


Blinding Light

by Bincxn



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Comedy, Confident Lee Felix, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff everywhere, Happy Ending, Lee Felix (Stray Kids)-centric, Long, M/M, Mutual Pining, OT8 fluff, Platonic Han Jisung | Han/Seo Changbin, Seo Changbin-centric, Slaps roof of fic - this baby has so much feelings, Slice of Life, Slow Burn-ish, Soft Seo Changbin, They basically become a big family, lots of cussing, so much pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:34:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 32,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24395113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bincxn/pseuds/Bincxn
Summary: Felix is handsome as fuck. He knows it and everyone else does as well; they have eyes after all. So, how DARE that all-clad-in-black dwarf shrug him off as if he wasn't the sunshine's personification?!---Follow Changbin and Felix as they start it off on the wrong foot, become friends, best friends, fall in love and finally find each other. And as they grow closer, so does OT8.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 202





	1. Changbin meeting Felix for the first time, regrettably

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pristine guy just winks at him again and that’s it- this guy- this fucking-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited! I've been hiding this precious baby in my cloud for a year now; writing on it off and on~ This will be a long and hopefully funny ride filled with: fluff, friendship, weirdness, banter and lots of feelings! 
> 
> Some quick info:  
> \- Felix and Changbin POV. Chapter title will tell you who  
> \- Changlix main pairing. The other ships are present in descending strength as follows: Minho/Jisung - Seungmin/Hyunjin - Chan/Jeongin  
> \- Lots of platonic/best friend Binsung (Changbin/Jisung)  
> \- I promise no update schedule because I'll fail at it anyway. But! I have 60K+ pre-written if that eases your mind  
> A warning:  
> This fic contains mountains of bad words.

His shoes squeak on the linoleum-covered hallway as he leaves from his last lecture of the day. He has been looking forward to this moment all day. All he wants is to hide away in his studio and work on all the melodies that are stuck in his head.

And if there’s a spring in his steps, it’s not because he _finally,_ after months of saving money, bought those expensive headphones Chan owned and he’d craved since the time they first grazed him with their heavenly sound.

With a smile, he pats his bag where the headphones rest inside. Yes, absolutely nothing, and no one can ruin today. Impossible. This is the best day of his life and he will enjoy every second. For real.

Just as he passes by a door, a sudden and excruciatingly loud BANG resounds from the room beyond. He startles and flinches back in confusion. The next moment, smoke rises from inside, thick and black, and he’s about to snap his shock-widened mouth shut, but the door rips open and a gust of air that smells like burned plastic envelops him. He would have coughed, if not for-

“WHAT THE FUCK! How are you capable of even fucking something _this_ simple up?! God fucking damn it!” Someone yells, voice raspy. Three figures emerge from the doorway, smoke hugging their forms as if this were some shitty, homemade action movie – Changbin suppresses the urge to look for a camera he might have overseen but the flames blazing behind those- those idiots- catch his attention quite fully.

“What the hell?” He mumbles and gapes when the smoke lifts little by little and he can make out the figures previously hidden.

“Fuck you! Do you always have to act as if EVERYTHING is my fault?!” A guy with blonde hair bites back, his thin frame shakes and he looks, how even is that possible, absolutely pristine; especially compared to the other two.

“Because you’re a fucking fucked up IDIOT!” A lanky guy with dark hair jeers. His face is full of soot and - Woah, yeah, that dude’s eyebrows are definitely not where they should be. The guy scrunches up his face in clear anger, accusing finger pointing at pristine guy, nostrils flaring and non-existent eyebrows furrowed.

It looks a _tiny_ bit ridiculous.

“It’s warm here, isn’t it?” The third guy speaks up, his voice is airy and barely hearable over the ruckus. Changbin’s gaze snaps to his blackened form. His clothes are smoking and – oh, SHIT.

He’s on fire.

Without thinking, Changbin flings his bag to the ground and rushes forward-

“Shit dude, the Hoe’s on fire!” But lanky guy notices as well and yanks fire guy forward, hitting his back harshly.

“The _fuck_ are you doing?!” Pristine guy interjects and rips lanky guy away, pushing fire guy to the ground, “you got to roll em on the floor like a burrito you idiot! What even CAN you do right?!”

The dude lands on the ground with a gasp, not even extending his hands to catch himself-

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I would have easily put him out!”

“No, you wouldn’t have!”

Lanky and pristine guy are completely lost in their world as fire guy’s clothes are continuing their disintegration due to acute overheating. Changbin snaps out of his incredulous stare because – what the fuck, truly what the fuck is wrong with these people – and kneels to extinguish the fire himself, but someone steps in front of him, _again._

He falls on his butt, losing his balance from the sudden move and his eye twitches as he sees – as if in a time-lapse – as pristine guy grabs his bag, HIS bag, and starts vehemently hitting fire guy on the back with it until the fire dies out.

And then Changbin’s bag is on fire. He watches, unable to form words as this point, how pristine guy throws his bag, HIS bag, into, INTO, the room that’s on FIRE and Changbin’s heart can’t even comprehend enough of this- this stupidity to-

“ _That’s_ how you do it!” Pristine guy says, sounding smug and proud and lanky guy immediately bites the bait and they’re arguing _again_.

Changbin looks between them and the fire. Yellow flames lick out of the door and he’s aware it’s probably a good idea to increase his distance to it; aka, to run away. At least if he doesn’t wish to end up like his headphones.

Those guys. He swears, especially that pristine guy that- That threw his bag, HIS BAG, and HIS HEADPHONES into the fucking fire-

Movement catches his attention; he observes how fire guy slowly sits up. Their eyes meet and this guy- he just serenely smiles at Changbin as if he hadn’t just been on fire- he can’t even-

Another loud bang resonates around him and before he knows it, lanky and pristine guy stumble back from the steadily heating door; pristine guy loses his balance, flails, and, to Changbin’s horror, tumbles into his lap. The dude gathers his wits, and finally, _finally_ , notices Changbin’s existence and he- he dares to grin and wink at him.

“Oh hey, must be your lucky day finding yourself with a lapful of sunshine, huh?”

Changbin gawks. Pristine guy doesn’t bother about it and continues grinning as if the FUCKING ROOM BEFORE THEM ISN’T ON FIRE.

“OH, MY FUCKING GOD! This is not the moment for your fucking shit attempts at flirting, IS IT?!” Lanky guy screams across the noise of the fire and Changbin feels sweat run down his temple- Pristine guy winks at him again and that’s it- this guy- this fucking-

He unceremoniously pushes him off his lap and gets up, having the mindfulness to pull fire guy – who’s still serenely smiling at him – off the ground too and then makes a run for it.

Partly because, well, there’s a giant fire and partly because pristine guy, really, _really_ deserves a slap in the face. A hard one. And he’s not a violent person. Yet.

At the end of the hallway, people run towards them; it’s only now that he hears the fire alarm blaring. He pulls fire guy blindly through the crowd and only stops when the adrenaline and panic slip out of his veins and they’re a safe distance away.

His hand drops and he glances back to see fire guy staring dreamily at the ceiling – pristine and lanky are nowhere around and thank fuck for that.

“Oh my god, BINNIE!” Jisung dashes towards him, and a second later he’s got an armful of emotional squirrel clinging to him. “Are you okay?!”

How even did he…? He really needs to check his shit. How’s it even possible for Jisung to spot him _at once_ where ever he goes?

He pats Jisung’s shoulder soothingly and brings distance between them. “I’m fine, calm down. You should worry more about that guy,” he points to fire guy’s charred form, “he was on fire.”

Jisung eyes fire guy owlishly, his mouth a perfect o. Best reaction of the year, Jisung, bravo.

“You okay? And what’s your name anyway?” Changbin addresses fire guy when Jisung continues to stare like the dumbass he is.

Fire guy doesn’t respond. He, instead, ogles Jisung’s face as if it’s some kind of life-giving essence that he’d very much like to absorb.

Jisung whimpers and scurries to hide behind Changbin.

Why did he pull this guy along again?

“Yo Bin, you okay?” Chan appears next to them with a worried frown and stiffens when his eyes fall on fire guy.

“Channie, he’s scaring me. Do something.” Jisung paws at Chan’s back and, yeah, Changbin will not let his easy way out pass by.

“Yeah, Crispy, you’re the adult here, do your thing.” Changbin pushes the eldest towards fire guy and ignores the scowl he gets in return.

Must suck to be the oldest.

“Wow, hey, aren’t you Minho? We had some lectures together last year!” At least Chan seems to recognise him.

Fire guy hums in affirmation but doesn’t take his eyes off Jisung, who must peak over Changbin’s shoulder.

“Uhm, all right, you okay?” Chan tries to get Minho’s attention but fails. He exchanges a glance with Changbin who shrugs. _I’ve got no fucking clue either._

Chan sighs and extends a hand to touch Minho’s shoulder. This guy is still looking at Jisung and not answering. Maybe some part of his brain has been smoked out?

“FUCKS SAKE, FINALLY!” Suddenly lanky guy appears from god knows where and violently clasps Minho’s shoulder. “LIX! I found the hoe!” He yells at the top of his lungs and yep everyone turns towards them.

Chan lifts his hands and takes a large step backward. Smart.

Jisung attaches himself to Changbin’s arm, predictably, and hooks his chin over his shoulder to see what’s going on.

Minho is still staring.

Then Pristine guy enters the picture and Changbin scowls.

“Damn, Min. We looked everywhere for you. Everything okay?” At least he has the decency to act worried.

“I’m smoking hot. Otherwise, I’m fine.” Minho deadpans in a whisper and Jisung snorts. Changbin has an intense urge to rub his temples. Chan looks like a lost puppy standing halfway between them.

Pristine guy nods satisfied and bumps Minho’s shoulder. “Glad you’re well.”

“No, thanks to you.” Lanky guy throws in and pokes a finger into pristine guy’s chest.

Pristine guy scoffs and it looks as if he will argue back, but he abruptly stops when his eyes land on Changbin.

Oh, great.

“Oh! It’s you~” He turns to Changbin fully, lips stretching into a, and Changbin hates himself for the thought, dazzling smile. “Lucky you, being blessed with my- “Lanky guy slaps a hand over his mouth so quickly, Changbin is positive he must do this all the time.

“Another word and I WILL fucking throw you back into the fire.” Lanky guy enunciates each word aggressively, but pristine guy merely rolls his eyes and then winks at Changbin. Again.

Changbin has half a mind to ask lanky guy to fulfil his threat but Minho suddenly reaches a slender hand over Changbin’s shoulder – when had that guy even gotten so close – and he hears a squeak from behind him.

“You’re beautiful.” Minho breathes – way too close for comfort and Jisung stiffens, his bony fingers painfully digging into Changbin’s arm.

What the fuck. Just… what the fuck.

Chan takes another step back. Their eyes meet and Changbin shrugs at the confusing question in his gaze, _I have no fucking idea either, dude._

But honestly? He’s in no shape to deal with this shit anymore and he doesn’t want to either. He turns and walks away. Chan and Jisung follow him without a word, latter still attached to his arm.

Yelling breaks out behind them and Changbin quickly beelines for the exit.

His poor headphones. That guy- he had just _thrown_ them- and then- then- he _fucking tries to flirt with him!_

“You okay, Bin?” Chan asks into the silence and Changbin scoffs.

“Best day of my life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't begin to describe how attached I've become to this fic. I'm looking forward to sharing it with y'all~
> 
> Comments are my life-energy so please leave some! :)


	2. Felix being turned down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh no. Not this time. Felix flies off the bench and grasps the guy’s wrist before he can think better of it. “You!” He accuses, “Why do you keep brushing me off! What’s your name? I’m Felix.”

It’s been a week. An entire week since Hyunjin set their project on fire and - he smirks - lost his eyebrows. Admittedly, Felix had had trouble breathing for a few days but the doctor assured him it’s nothing to worry about; it passed quickly, but Hyunjin’s eyebrows _still_ hadn’t fully grown back.

It's fucking great.

Normally, this would all but gurantee an excellent mood for him. Were it not for this, literally, tiny problem.

Emo-kid, as Hyunjin came to call him, had brushed him off and he’s incapable of accepting with it. Given, it had been a precarious situation, but isn’t that just spicing things up? A handsome guy – like himself – flirting with you in front of a roaring fire? The situation could have honestly come straight out of a drama. But no, drama-worthy is apparently not good enough for that guy.

A muffled thunk pulls him out of his thoughts and he notices that Minho fell asleep again. Headfirst. Head-to-table-first. He’ll never know how this guy isn’t waking up from the impact. He shakes his head with a fond smile and slips the book out from underneath his face. The librarian is never happy to see stains on them.

Never. Not even if it's tiny. Or heart-shaped. Not that he has experience.

With a tired sigh, he leans back in his uncomfortable chair. He should study Korean. His book has been lying untouched in front of him since the moment he arrived here, though. Between the muffled music he hears from the right, the insistent pen-clicking from the left, and the almost rhythmic notification-ping of someone’s phone, well, he just can’t seem to concentrate. A marvel why, truly.

It's a blessing that Hyunjin isn’t here yet. That guy always forces him to study, and it only leads to arguments and then they’re thrown out of the library again, forget Minho, who’s still sleeping on the table like the scatter-brained idiot he is, and then they have to sneak back in assassins creed style to get him out.

It happened before. Once or twice.

He yawns and rubs his eyes. The leathery smell of books mixed with the dusty scent of the library is making him sleepy. Not to mention the cosy rays of the sun that are warming his back or Minho’s quiet snores – yeah, he might just close his eyes for a tiny moment…

A phone rings in the distance and someone curses. Felix sighs in exasperation and opens his heavy eyelids again. He might have dozed off for a second there. He half-heartedly scans the room for the culprit but cannot find him. With a shrug, he’s about to close his eyes again but out of his peripheral view, he sees the heavy library doors open and in wanders – low and behold – undercut guy.

To say that he immediately sits upright is an absolute lie.

They’re far enough apart that Felix can watch him quietly and without being noticed. Back then, during the fire, everything had been hectic and his mind might have been a _tad_ panicked; he honestly feels miffed that the guy had just shrugged him off like he had, but it’s also somewhat understandable. Somewhat.

Undercut guy walks through the room and Felix notices round glasses perched on his nose. His hair is tousled, and he wears a dark green hoodie with black pants. He stops in front of a bookshelf, hands stuck in his pockets as he scans through the rows and Felix catches a good eyeful of the other’s face.

It's sharp, all angles, and defined features. He looks intimidating, even just browsing books. The undercut, combined with black hair and his tanned skin give him a somewhat roguish, handsome look. Only the round glasses soften his appearance a bit.

He observes him for a moment longer, racks his eyes over his body and back to his face and his hair and fuck. Damn, this guy is fucking _attractive_. Intimidating _and_ attractive. Looking at him already feels like a dangerous game.

At least, until undercut-guy tries to take a book from the upper shelves and has trouble reaching it. He’s too small, but he still sports a look of fierce determination as he perches on his tippy-toes and stretches his too-tiny arm to reach it. Maybe he believes in magic or that he’ll spontaneously grow a few centimetres, who knows.

Felix can’t help but smile at the weirdly endearing sight; you’re not a wizard, undercut guy. He observes the cute scene for a few seconds and his smile morphs into a smirk.

He bites his lip and gets up.

If this isn’t the perfect chance, then Hyunjin is an absolute angel.

He straightens his clothes and checks on Minho – yup, still soundly sleeping. At least judging by the small puddle forming on the table. Felix eyes him fondly before strolling to the row of shelves where the _big_ dwarven battle for wisdom takes place. He comes up behind the other who doesn’t notice him. Felix takes a moment to appreciate the guy’s back, his broad shoulders, and the cute sight of him standing on his tippy toes.

His fingers dance close to the spine of a yellow book, Felix realises and steps up close behind the other without thinking too much about it. He reaches for the book that he himself only barely touches and pulls it out.

Undercut guy stiffens, turns, and takes a step back which makes him bump into the bookshelf. Felix feels smug as they make eye contact and offers the book with his most charming smile.

“Noticed you needed help there, so I came to your rescue. No need for thanks.”

He waits with pleased anticipation how he’ll respond – he knows that he’s smooth and handsome. This can’t go wrong.

At least that’s what he thinks until the other’s eyes narrow and he scowls, glowering darkly at Felix as if he’d just murdered the guy’s cat or something. The other rips the book out of his unresisting hand and with a last glare, the guy turns and walks to the exit so fast, he’d make sonic proud.

Felix remains in his spot, baffled at what just transpired. Baffled and irritated.

That didn’t go as planned. At all.

He lowers his still suspended hand and furrows his brows – he honestly didn’t expect rejection. Felix had helped him _and_ spoke in his attractive, deep voice. It never failed him before. At least it hadn’t until now.

Well, isn’t this irritating? How dare he just walk away from him? From _him._ With crossed arms, he stares a hole into the bookshelf. He rarely approaches strangers as he had just now. He also rarely finds strangers _this_ attractive. This makes it even more maddening. Normally, people flock to him, want to talk to him, want his number, and so on. He knows that he’s good-looking. Everyone does, of course, they have eyes after all.

So why didn’t it work?

He rubs the back of his neck thoughtfully and turns to walk back to his table, only to come face to face with Hyunjin, of all people.

How lovely.

“Not good enough for the emo kid, huh? Fuck me, that’s funny.” Hyunjin cackles.

Felix rolls his eyes, “Yeah, just as funny as your dumb eyebrow-less face.”

Hyunjin sputters and rages, but Felix ignores him and walks away before the librarian spots them.

Next time he meets undercut guy, he’ll make him talk. No one got away from him without being awestruck by his beauty. No one.

.

.

.

The cafeteria is full, and it smells like fish. Today is fish-day. Felix is not fond of fish. He’s also not fond of rejection, as it turns out.

“Hey guys~ Sorry, I’m late.” He smiles and takes the seat next to Minho.

Hyunjin clucks his tongue and shoves a fry into his mouth. “Pretty sure the Hoe didn’t even realise you’re not here, so it’s all right.”

Felix smirks and turns to Minho, holding his chest in mock pain. “I’m hurt, Min. How could you not notice the literal sun missing? It must have been so dark here without me!”

“For fuck’s sake, shut up!”

Felix laughs and evades the fry Hyunjin throws at him.

“It’s a little dark here, yes. The lamps aren’t very bright and the windows are so far away.” Minho breathes, cocking his head like a puppy would as he scans the lights above them. Felix snickers and pulls him into an one-armed hug.

“Ah, never change, Min.”

Hyunjin rolls his eyes and pokes him with his pointy index finger. “You learned for your Korean exam yet?”

“It’s in two weeks- “

“Exactly and your pronunciation sucks dick and your accent slips into your words harder than a dick into my ass. You should learn and stop fucking complaining.”

Ah, Hyunjin. Such a lovely creature.

“Damn Jinnie, I always love how romantic and flowery your language is.”

Hyunjin snorts and returns his attention to his fries. Felix knows he isn’t off the hook, but recently, it’s just extra hard to concentrate. It’s not his fault. Really not.

It’s undercut guy's fault. Felix cannot get him out of his head and he can’t pinpoint why exactly that is. Again, and again his face plops into his mind and then his thoughts drift and-

“Can you fucking stop thinking about that goddamn emo-kid?” Hyunjin glowers and Felix doesn’t waste a moment to glare back. Now he’s not even allowed to _think_ what he wants anymore or what?

“Fuck off, I think about what I want- “

“GOD, so you were _actually_ fucking thinking about him?! Ugh, your whippery is disgusting.”

“I am _not_ whipped!”

“Sure! Who the fuck you try to convince of that shit?!”

“Jinnie, I swear-“

“Guys, can you calm down, please? Felix will stop cursing and Jinnie will bless everyone with his looks and we’ll all be happy, okay?”

“Wait, you- “

“No, no, no. Let it be, Lix. The hoe’s right. I’m the true blessing here.”

Felix glares at him, biting the inside of his lip so hard he might just taste blood any second now. He’ll swallow this pill. Arguing with Hyunjin will only lead to more yelling and even more cursing, and he’s not in the mood for that.

He settles more comfortably into his seat and eats his food. Hyunjin gets lost in his phone and Minho is staring off into space again. There’s nothing else for him to do then look around the hall. He meets a few curious looks here and there – some girls who smile at him, mostly, until his gaze connects with brown eyes that scream murder at him.

Oh, how lovely, it’s undercut, guy.

Felix smirks and winks at him, even beckoning him over, but the guy’s eyebrow just twitches and his frown deepens. Felix is racking his brain for what to do but just then someone appears next to undercut guy, attaches themselves to his arm, and successfully steals his attention. Their eye contact breaks and undercut guy smiles softly at his company, which Felix vaguely recognises from the day of the fire before they walk off together. He doesn’t even have the decency to look back at him one last time.

He scowls and bites the inside of his lip again. This obvious rejection is just as bad as the fact that this guy has a smile so soft, it transforms his entire face into something so… gentle? How could someone’s face look so intimidating and then _tender_ the very next moment?

He averts his eyes and stares a hole into the table when he realises that he had smiled like that at this other guy.

Ah. How long has it been since he felt jealous? Long. Very long.

Can’t say he missed it at all.

“You’re such a fucking loser.” Hyunjin sneers, evidently having seen it all happen. Great, just great.

.

.

.

The early evening air is cool and bathes the campus in relative silence. Only the sound of the wind dancing around him, cars driving in the distance, and crickets humming hidden in the grass surrounds him. The atmosphere is relaxing, especially with the way the strategically placed lamps only dimly light up the surrounding paths.

Small pebbles crunch under his shoes as he shifts, leans back, and sighs. His head falls into an uncomfortable angle he can’t bring himself to care about.

This past week has been chaotic. Every attempt at studying had failed because of his lacking ability to concentrate for a damn minute. It leaves a bitter taste of frustration in his mouth. Hyunjin keeps pestering and pushing him and undercut still hasn’t left his mind. He also still scowls at Felix whenever they accidentally meet each other.

Honestly? He knows he should leave it be. There’s just something between his hurt confidence and the way this guy draws him in with his scowls and odd looks that forbids him to leave it be.

It’s silly, stupid even. Well, at least Hyunjin’s eyebrows looked extra ridiculous now, partly regrow but hairs still too short to form a real eyebrow. It never failed to make him laugh.

A chilly breeze caresses his neck and he shudders. He should probably go back soon. Seungmin always gets worried when he’s out late and alone. For whatever reason.

Hyunjin and Minho had probably started arguing in front of him again, too. Felix doesn’t envy Minho for being roomed with Hyunjin. Then again, Minho can be a real slob, so yeah. They’re both a handful.

He’s not surprised that they argue as much as they do, it’s more surprising they’re friends, honestly.

Lazily, he observes the dark, slowly moving clouds that the city illuminate from beneath. He hums along to the melody of a pop song he’s heard recently. His foot follows the beat, softly bouncing. He should’ve stayed at the dance studio for a few more hours.

Footsteps interrupt his peaceful moment minutes later. He turns his head to find none other than undercut guy staring back at him. Felix’s eyes widen. Well, isn’t this unexpected? Undercut guy seems to think along the same lines, for his steps waver and his eyes grow wide. He gathers himself quickly though and breaks their eye contact and continues walking as if nothing happened.

Oh no. Not this time.

Felix flies off the bench and grasps the guy’s wrist before he can think better of it. “You!” He accuses, “Why do you keep brushing me off! What’s your name? I’m Felix.”

The other stiffens; they’re looking at each other again from up close this time, thanks to his hasty actions. He doesn’t move back, stays close, and keeps clutching the other’s wrist. He’s nothing if not insistent. The other stares at him in bewilderment, brown eyes full of questions, and in his confusion, his features soften a fraction.

The silence between them stretches until the situation feels like something out of a shitty drama. Eventually, the other comes alive again and tears his wrist out of Felix’s grasp.

“Can’t you just leave me alone? You’re annoying.” He says, voice rough and swiftly walks away. Felix feels tempted to curse at him, Hyunjin’s influence no doubt.

What is this guy’s problem? And _why_ the fuck must his voice fit so perfectly to his looks? Can’t there be _anything_ Felix won’t find attractive about him? Good lord.

Irritated, he ruffles his hair and leaves for his dorm. Coming here had been so nice and then- Ugh.

.

A few minutes later, he walks into his dorm, relieved to find only his roommate inside. Thank god, he’s not sure if he could have dealt with Hyunjin right now.

“Heya~ Your sunshine has returned~” he tries to sound as cheerful as usual but it’s all off. With a groan at his foolishness and undercut guy’s _not_ adorable dwarfism, he falls onto his bed like a sack of flour. Loud thud and dangerously creaking bed included.

“All right, Felix. What’s wrong this time?” Seungmin, ever the perceptive, discards of his laptop and strolls to him.

“Ah, nothing. Just this asshole that keeps ignoring me.” He rolls onto his back and crosses his arms with a pout. “I’ve got exactly zero idea what I did, but he refuses to talk to me.”

“We’re talking about the guy you were swooning about last week, right?”

“Minnie~ I wasn’t _swooning_! You sound like my mom.”

“Sure, sure.” Seungmin chuckles, undoubtedly not believing him.

“I don’t understand this. I did nothing but flirt, be charming and handsome, but all he does is scowl and glare at me.”

“Maybe, you know, some people just don’t like handsome and charming? Ever thought of it? Just leave it be, Felix. It’s honestly not like you to fawn over anyone.”

“I know~,” he whines and presses his palms over his eyes. “I don’t know what it is about this guy, I just… feel so strangely drawn to him? Does that even make sense? Ah, I don’t know. Just giving up is so lame, you know? I don’t think that’ll make my head stop thinking about him, either.”

Seungmin scoffs and flicks his arm. “You have a thing for torturing yourself, don’t you? Why don’t you just try on last time, then? If he rejects you, leave him be.”

Felix sighs, “Fine, fine. Thanks, Minnie.”

“Sure thing. Just try to not do it around Jinnie, all right? He’s getting on my nerves with his whining about your ‘ _whippery’_.” He speaks the word as if it tastes bad, making Felix chuckle.

“Jinnie’s getting on everyone’s nerves.”

“He’s not the only one.”

“Excuse me?”

“Ah, never mind! Good luck with Mister Unapproachable.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a little longer than I planned to. I've been writing on a lot of things lately. Next chapter should come out sooner! :)
> 
> Gladly leave a comment! I love getting feedback!


	3. Changbin being the light in the dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Guess you can’t run away this time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact:  
> This chapter is 25% Binsung bickering, 24% 3RACHA bickering, 35% Changlix and 100% Changbin having a mental breakdown
> 
> Enjoy~

What did he do to deserve this?

First, he has to watch how that idiot throws his headphones into the fire. Afterwards, he has to be part of the world’s worst timed attempt at flirting that _still_ haunts his nightmares and lastly, as if it isn’t enough already, this guy is just _not_ _fucking giving up_.

It's either fate having a good chuckle, or the blonde found out his schedule. He’s unsure which he prefers. One would think being ignored and glared at is a clear enough sign of ‘ _can you please fuck off?’_ but, alas, it seems not.

In the week that has passed since the fire, the cause of which is still unclear, the blonde had repeatedly tried to talk to him. Sometimes, he’d come up and say some irksome pickup line about ‘ _how lucky he is’_ and that he’s the ‘ _sunshine himself’_. Other times, he’d watch Changbin from afar as if he’s a serial killer stalking his prey. Not creepy _at all_. And finally, on especially awful days, their eyes would meet randomly and the blonde will wink and beckon him over.

Chan and Jisung teasing him and copying Felix when they’re at home isn’t making the situation any better. It’s similar to accidently subscribing to a newsletter and being unable to cancel it, no matter how hard and often he hits the unsubscribe button.

And he hit it. Often and insistently. Why is that guy even trying so hard? No one has ever hit on him this offensively before. Well, truthfully, no one has _ever_ hit on him. Not that anyone needs to know that. Classified information.

Despite all that, there’s something even worse. It’s his reaction to the blonde. It creeped up on him and suddenly, he finds himself consciously looking for the blonde, or he realises how pleasing his deep voice is, or how he moves with cat-like grace _or_ the way his clothes hug his lean form just-

No, not again. Bad mind.

He groans and buries his head in the couch’s cushions. What an idiot he is. He wants to be mad, _wishes_ to be, but he can’t. Not like this. Not in general. He isn’t a person who can stay mad at people. He sleeps a night and poof – in the morning all his negative feelings have vanished. It’s like a cursed blessing.

It’s honestly been a challenge to endure this past week and _not_ crumble.

“That’s a mighty sigh. Thinking about the blonde menace again?” Jisung joins him on the couch with amusement dripping of his voice and puts his head in Changbin’s lap.

He grunts, “Don’t give him cool names he doesn’t deserve.”

“How else am I supposed to call him? Changbin’s lusty dream? Changbin’s pant tent or- Ouchie, man, not cool.” Jisung rubs the spot Changbin flicked.

“The only uncool thing in this room is you.”

Jisung snorts, “that’s fake news, dude, no one told you to look in the mirror before?”

“They did, and I saw Chan standing behind me, so that explained it.”

Jisung giggles and slaps his arm as if he’d made the joke of the century. It’s not that funny, but then again, Jisung also laughs about his own shitty puns as if they’re worth anything more than an one-way ticket into the trashcan.

“Honestly though, what’s up with that dude?”

“Do I look like _I know_? Last time he blurted out his name, gripped my wrist and I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t do anything but run away.”

“Wow, smooth. I’m impressed. You’re a mentor for us all.” Jisung snickers. Changbin hits him.

“I mean, surely am for people like _you._ ‘ _Channie do something~ He’s scaring me~’”_ He mimics Jisung with a high-pitched voice and receives a pout in return.

“You’ll hear from my lawyer.”

“What lawyer? You can’t even finance your own food without leeching off of me.”

“Binnie~ Sheesh, okay. You win. Stop being mean.”

“You started a losing war, Sungie.”

Jisung sighs dramatically and pulls Changbin’s arm over his stomach. “Let’s get back to the important stuff. I thought you decided to talk with him?”

Yes. Yes, he had.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Wow, I think I saw your nose grow a few inches.” Jisung taps it with his finger and a knowing glint in his eyes. “Isn’t it big enough as is? Why risk making it bigger? Want to open an airport on it?”

Changbin bats his hand away. His smile comes naturally, even if he wants to scowl. “I’m trying to break the world-record, okay? It’s hard work, leave me be.”

“When have I ever?” Jisung stretches himself with a proud smile and nearly hits Changbin in the face with his hand. “So, what’s up with this guy? What’s his name and why’re you avoiding him, anyway? I thought you liked guys too.”

“Nosy, are we? It doesn’t matter. Nothing little squirrels need to know.”

“Binnie~” Jisung whines and squishes Changbin’s cheeks between his hands. The angle is awkward and results with Jisung’s elbow in his stomach. “You’re mean~ You can’t withhold essential information and then whine about it!”

“I’m not- “ He takes the hands from his cheeks, “I’m not whining.”

“If you don’t spill, I’ll tell Channie you ate his cookies while hiding in the laundry room.”

He stiffens. That little-

“How do you even know about that?”

“Oh, Binnie~ If I’d tell you, it wouldn’t be a secret any longer, would it?” Jisung grins. He pats his own head, “Now caress my head and tell me everything, baby.”

He groans and combs his fingers through Jisung’s hair. There’s no running away from this, anyway. At least not if he wants to live in peace. “Fine. But when I’m done, you tell me how you found me out.”

“Deal.”

“You remember Chan’s studio headphones?”

“You mean those hideously overpriced things that sound no better than the average headphones?”

His brow twitches, “ _Yes, those._ Anyway. You might remember that I love those headphones. The thing is, I saved money for them over the last months and bought them.”

“What a waste.” Jisung groans, dramatic hand gesture included. Changbin flicks his forehead. “Ow, what, man? It’s the truth.”

“Be quiet and listen, you idiot. That day of the fire, I wanted to bring the headphones to the studio at school. Long story short, the blond guy – his name is Felix - extinguished that creepy one with my bag and threw it into the flames afterwards. The headphones were in that bag.”

He falls silent and meets Jisung’s gaze. The younger doesn’t comment, which is always a terrible sign. They stare at each other for a handful of seconds until Jisung’s lips twitch into his telltale grin that promises deafening volumes of laughter. Fucking great. There it is; his eyes tear up and a second later he’s laughing loudly, holding his belly and getting all red in the face. What else did he expect?

“Oh, my god- “He wheezes out between gasps of breath and laughter, “I can’t believe this- “

“Yah! It’s not that amusing!” Changbin tries to hit him, but Jisung laughs harder and evades it, promptly rolling off the couch. He lands on the floor with a thud and continues laughing as if he’d heard the world’s best joke. What an idiot.

“Oh, my- “

Unable to suppress his own smile, Changbin rolls his eyes. The entire story is absurd, he can admit that. Definitely not absurd enough for this, but yeah. This is Jisung. It’s all the explanation anyone needs. “You okay down there, Sungie?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jisung says, out of breath, and he climbs back up to retakes his spot in Changbin’s lap. He exhales long and shaky, a smile stuck on his face. “That Felix guy has no clue what he did, huh?”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“Typical you. Why don’t you tell people when they fuck up?”

He taps his fingers on Jisung’s chest, “that’s such a bother. I mean, you know me, I can’t stay mad for shit.”

“Not even if someone burns your overpriced headphones?”

With a sigh, he sinks further into the cushions. “Nope, not even then.” How he wishes that to be different.

“Such a softie~” This time, Jisung catches Changbin’s wrist before it finds its destination. The younger snickers, “come on, it’s nothing bad. What’s your plan with Felix though? You can’t ignore him forever.”

“… is that a challenge?” He asks and Jisung wags his eyebrows.

“You’d be playing hard-to-get on max level. Sounds shitty to me, honestly. But come on, “ Jisung fumbles around with Changbin’s arm, “you’ll look weird if you keep running. Just talk to the dude, man. He seems to like you.”

He grunts, swirling a strand of bleached hair between his fingers.

“Or, I mean, you can keep being a weirdo. You hide in the fucking laundry room to eat Channie’s cookies, after all. It’s probably too late for you; you’ve sunken too deep.”

“Come on, that’s not as bad as the shit I see _you_ doing sometimes! How did you find out, anyway?”

Jisung smiles ruefully, “I wanted to hide and eat them there too. Thanks to you, I had to take them to my room! I still have crumbs in my bed.“

He should’ve expected it. “Sungie!” He laughs, pushing the younger’s shoulder fondly. “You can’t call me weird if you planned to do the sa- “

“And I wondered what happened to my cookies.”

They both freeze and almost simultaneously turn to the entryway in which, in all his glory and laden with grocery bags, stands Chan.

“Oh, Channie~ What a pleasant- “

“Save it, Sung.”

Jisung squeaks and hides behind Changbin, who scoffs. As if Chan could ever be mad at anyone… “You’re not mad, are you? I mean, _I_ left you half- “

“You mean you left half for Sung? Yeah, I heard that.” Chan puts the bags away and joins them on the couch, falling into the cushions as if all energy left him. “That’s what I get for being nice to you two, huh?”

“Channie~ Don’t say it like that! We pay you back plenty!” Jisung pouts and Chan shakes his head with a smile.

“You two give me nothing but trouble. Well, at least Bin knows how to make good cacao. You, on the other hand…”

“Hey! I’m perfectly supportive, all right! I’m always- “Jisung falters, “always, uhm! Cheering you guys up, there! That’s important too!”

Changbin snorts and Jisung cuddles his arm, defiantly pouting at Chan. What a child.

“Yeah, Crispy. Can’t you see how useful he is?… wait. He _did_ cheer me up just now… Huh.”

“Did he now? Was it about the blonde guy again?”

“No.” Changbin says at once.

“Yes, and his name is Felix.”

He scowls at Jisung, who sticks out his tongue. What a traitor.

“All right, it was about him, but honestly, it was nothing interesting- “

“Did you know Binnie bought those expensive headphones you have too, Channie? Those in the studio?”

He groans, defeated. He might as well write an Exposé next time: ‘Changbin, and how he fucked up by trusting a dumb squirrel’, or, ‘Changbin on how to strangle squirrels efficiently’.

“Oh?” Chan eyes him in surprise. “Where d'you get the money for that? Is that why you’ve been eating less?”

“Wait, you’ve been eating less?!” Jisung gets off his lap and eyes him angrily. “Binnie! You can’t just stop eating- “Jisung pokes him, “I knew you felt more bony than usual, you- “

Changbin bats his hand away, “Stop, geez, Sungie.” The younger hits a ticklish spot, and he squeaks, “I’ll eat more, promise.”

“You better do.”

“Now that that’s settled… What’s up with Felix? He seems to appear wherever you are lately. Even I started recognising him.” Apparently satisified with Jisung’s handiwork, their high-five was quite telling, Chan returns to the topic at once. It’s a terrible trait of him; he never loses the red string, which makes escaping him impossible. He’s also nosy as fuck.

“Yeah, he’s determined. It’s, well…”

“Creepy.” Jisung finishes for him.

“Yes.”

There’re no other words for it. Chan seems to mull over it, so they fall into a pleasant silence. They often do this; lounging on the couch and letting the stress seep out of them. Chan’s leg bounces rhythmically, he sits sideways, body facing Changbin. His hair is nicely done today, though the rings under his eyes are growing deeper and deeper by the day.

Chan needs to take better care of himself. It makes Changbin sad to see him like this; caring for everyone but himself. The lack of sleep is not the only problem, though. He knows who's acting like a puppet master behind the scenes: Chan’s _mysterious_ boyfriend, that’s been avoiding meeting them for over three years now.

He's at a point where he believes it probably better they never meet. He’s unsure of what he’d do if-

“You’ll give him a chance then, I take it?” Chan curiously eyes him, “I mean, he appears to be quite… unwavering.”

Oh, no shit? It’s not like he sees this idiot every time he sets foot onto the campus.

“No one’s ever been this passionate about you, Binnie. He’s a keeper, I can tell.” Jisung helpfully adds from below and tugs at Changbin’s hoodie.

He scoffs, “really? You can tell? You little introvert with what experience?”

“I’m book-smart. That’s enough.”

“I’ve never seen you read a single book, Sung.” Chan deadpans, dismantling Jisung’s cover so quick, it takes a long moment for the youngest to reply.

“Channie~ This is not how it works! You’re supposed to be on _my_ side! I’m young and helpless _.”_

Chan laughs and pets his head, “you’re anything but. My arm still hurts from when you- “

“Hush, don’t tell lies, Channie.” Jisung slides over Changbin’s lap to place a hand over Chan’s mouth. “That’s better, baby.”

Chan and Changbin exchange a short, equally disturbed glance. _Why is this happening again? - Don’t question it dude, just don’t lick his palm and you’ll live... Probably._

Chan plucks the hand from his face and shoves Jisung back into Changbin’s lap. He sniffs and turns to Changbin, as if nothing happened, but his red ears give him away. He’d not make a good actor, that’s for sure. “For real, Bin, what are you going to do about him?”

What are they expecting from him? A game plan? Deep thoughts and a philosophical statement?

“The hell do I know?” That’s as much eloquence as they deserve. “Okay, don’t look like that. I don’t know, okay? I don’t know this guy and I’ve never talked to him. Why do you talk about giving him a chance? It sounds he’ll confess or something.”

“Aw, wouldn’t that be romantic? Love at first sight.” Jisung coos, cupping his cheeks.

Changbin huffs, retort on his tongue, but Chan beats him to it, “with you and Minho it surely was.”

Jisung sputters and gets all red, “it’s _not_ love at first sight! It’s restraining order at first sight!”

Jisung pouts while Changbin can’t hide his snicker. Chan’s telltale older-brother look suddenly appears on his face - oh, no. Please be no bees and flowers talk and please let Chan realise that he’s acting like a childish too and that neither of them will ever take him serious.

“You’ll talk to him, Bin?” Ah, fate favours him today, with a question that is not meant as one.

“Guess so, yeah.”

“Aw, Binnie is growing up. Well, metaphorically, I guess physically you’re at your lim- “Jisung yelps when he’s poked between the rips. “Hey! I’m just being honest here- “ He trails off into another bout of giggles and Changbin only stops when he’s satisfied that he will keep his mouth shut.

Chan smiles fondly, acting as if he hadn’t taken part in tickling Jisung. _We long since found out you’re a child too, Chan._

“Let’s make dinner. I’m starving.”

“You’re always starving, Channie.”

“And you’re always stealing our food.” Changbin adds.

“Yeah, we should give you less.”

“Absolutely. You need to learn how to respect other people’s plates.”

Chan sighs heavily while Changbin and Jisung grin at each other.

.

.

.

With a silent click, he pulls the door shut and readjusts his bag to fumble out the key for the lock. The tiny studio beyond houses too many belongings at this point; he’d rather not anyone walked in there. Even if it’s not his property.

Even if, strictly, he shouldn’t have the key to lock it. It’s not his fault people forgot this room exists. It’s Chan’s. He’d ‘ _leant’_ the key from a professor and never gave it back. In his defence, no one had asked him to.

Truly a great role-model.

He turns the key three times and tries the handle to make sure it’s locked for real. After that, he walks to the elevator at the far end of the hallway; it’s the only source of light in the otherwise unlit corridor. Midnight has long since passed and turning on the lights would be creeper than him bumbling through the darkness.

All is quiet as he passes by various doors, it’s not surprising, considering that they’re practice rooms for dancers. No one sane person would train at – he checks his phone – two in the morning. If one looked at it closely, he shouldn’t be here either.

With a quiet hum, the elevator doors open for him. He steps inside and cringes at the bright light before pressing the button for the ground floor. The odour of coffee mixed with cleaners lingers in the compact room. It’s unpleasant. He leans in a corner with closed eyes. It’s been a long day; he’s tired, and he still has to walk all the way home. At least he managed to work on all the tracks Chan had wanted him to check.

Soon, they’d be able to release their second album as 3RACHA. He’s excited for it, even if it’s just a SoundCloud release.

The doors slide shut with a whirr, when, out of nowhere, they stop and slide open again. Perplexed, he opens his eyes and peers at the door, coming face to face with Felix.

Wow. Is he being stalked? Probably.

The blonde casually leans in the door, stretching his arm to the opposite frame, blocking any exit. He’s looking all too smug with his usual smirk. Changbin can’t help but let his eyes roam over him, half-light doing nothing if not compliment his form. Sportswear loosely hugs the blonde’s form and yes. How didn’t he realise it? Felix is a dancer. Suddenly, the cat-like grace makes a lot of sense.

Why is the way he stands in the doorwary so… No, don’t think it.

“Guess you can’t run away this time.” Felix drawls, cocking his head and never losing this damnable attractive smirk.

“Wasn’t trying to.” This time, at least.

“Oh?” He quirks a brow, “so you’ll talk to me? Can’t resist my handsome face any longer, eh?”

Changbin scoffs; how is anyone this confident in oneself? “You honestly believe that’s the reason, huh?” But… isn’t it? Maybe. Not that he’d say it out loud.

Visibly pleased, the blonde hums, “Sure do. I mean, did you believe I didn’t notice you checking me out just now?” He winks, “you hide nothing from me~”

“I don’t, hm? Why are you still in the doorway then, when I clearly want you to come inside?” Satisfied, he notes the flicker of surprise flashing over the blonde’s face. Two can play this game.

Felix catches himself in the blink of an eye, “going a little fast, don’t you think?”

Changbin shrugs, not believing that he took the bait. A slow smile takes over his lips. “You think? I mean, I’d like the elevator to do its job and you’re kinda in the way, aren’t you?” Lazily, he waves to the doorway the blonde is occupying.

If possible, Felix’s smirk widens. “Cheeky, are we? Pity that I don’t want our conversation to end just yet. I’m having too much fun.”

“Your definition of fun must be real shit if it entails standing in doorways.” He doesn’t want their conversation to end either.

There’s a glint in the blonde’s eyes Changbin doesn’t dare interpret. Neither of them moves, they gaze at each other and their smiles don’t let up.

“You see,” Felix starts, picking invisible fuzz of his clothes, “I’m willing to leave this door if you walk with me to my dorm. I don’t really trust you to run away without me though, and I still have my bag in the practice room.” He gives Changbin a meaningful look.

“Which door is it?” Slowly, he pushes himself off the wall, having understood the not-so-subtle hint. “Or you forgot in your haste to chase after me?”

Felix snorts, amusement filling his eyes. His hand slides off the doorframe. “You wish; it’s the first to the left.” To enable Changbin to squeeze by, he makes some space. _Some_ being the keyword. Cocky bastard. Changbin moves past, arm brushing the other and nose catching his scent; a mix of deodorant and cologne.

Inwardly berating himself, he steps through the door of the practice room. He has to smell good as well, doesn’t he? Is there anything unappealing about this guy? The practice room welcomes him with dim lights and the smell of hardwood. He spots the blonde’s things, but takes a moment to scan the room out of curiosity.

It’s basically empty. A stereo, mirrors everywhere and a handful of chairs. That’s it. What did he expect?

When he returns, the blonde still leans in the doorway and greets him with a smirk that’s become a tad softer – it looks almost like a misformed smile.

Changbin pushes the bag into his hands and they both go into the elevator. They stand on opposite sides when the doors slide shut and they descend.

“As much as I like the mystery; what’s your name?”

“Changbin.”

“You’re a dancer as well? Haven’t seen you befo- “ His voice trails off when the lights flicker.

The elevator shudders; his grip on the metal bar tightens involuntarily. Shit. Another instance of flickering and the lights give out. Everything is dark. Felix gasps, the elevators shakes, stops, plummets and stops again with a loud thud. Heart beating in his throat, Changbin swallows; they didn’t fall much. They’re not high up anyway and-

A sound like a sack of flour landing on the ground resounds, accompanied by a fitting vibration that shakes the room. What the-

“Felix?” No answer. Did he black out? “… Felix? You okay?”

Silence. Changbin quickly gets out his phone and turns on the flashlight. He directs the beam to where he expects the blonde and the light confirms his suspicion. Felix is lying crumbled on the floor. Carefully, he tries walking a few steps; the elevator must be stuck in place, because thankfully, it doesn’t budge. He kneels beside the blonde and shakes his shoulder. “Hey, Felix.”

He doesn’t stir. Consequentially, Changbin checks the blonde for injuries. He’s breathing and lying in a twisted position; he should fix that. Placing his phone upside down, it illuminates the room in white, cold brightness. He slowly pulls the blonde into a sideways position and can’t help patting his hair soothingly.

Because unconscious people can totally feel that. Yep.

To distract himself from coddling the blonde out of worry, he checks around the room: the buttons don’t work, neither do the lights or the doors. To top it off, his phone has zero reception. They’re stuck. Lovely. Lucky for them that tomorrow is a week day. Someone will find them in the morning hours, latest.

He sits down next to Felix and leans against the wall. The adrenaline from their short plummet dissipates and leaves behind a sense of exhaustion. Beneath his back, the wall is icy and he wonder’s if it’s a good idea to leave Felix lying on the equally cold ground just like that.

It’ll probably be okay.

He touches the ground to determine its temperature. It’s cold. A minute too long, he stares at the blonde’s face. Who’s he trying to fool? Not thinking twice, he pulls the blonde’s head into his lap, takes out his spare hoodie and drapes it over him. There, that’s better.

Silence stretches and the room cools down around him. Changbin caresses Felix’s head; an automatism from doing it for Jisung all the time.

Or that’s what he likes to believe. He didn’t fight with himself to do this for minutes now. He didn’t.

The blonde hair is soft between his fingers. His eyes wander over the relaxed face, cataloging the gentle curves, the plush lips and the adorably small nose. He doesn’t resist the urge to run a finger over his round cheeks and, okay, those are freckles. He hasn’t seen freckles in forever. Spattered all over his face, but most prominent on his cheeks, they look like abstract art…… or the remains of Jisung’s yoghurt that time Chan had scared him so bad he’d catapulted the thing against the wall and shrieked so loud the neighbours had knocked and asked if the police needed to intervene. It hadn’t helped that Jisung had been sobbing on the floor.

Turns out getting rid of the police is not a fun activity to indulge in.

With a shake of his head, he leaves the ridiculous memory behind and concentrates on Felix once more. This guy is so… weird. Now, like this, face blank of his usual smugness, he looks… adorable. Extremely so; his face is just shaped like it, like someone that should be innocent and cute and not, well, _not_ _like him_. Which is even more irritating because he’s also handsome with his smirks and frowns. This kind of duality should be illegal.

He traces a line across his face, feeling the warm skin under his fingertips. Yeah, he shouldn’t be doing this, but his hand doesn’t care about that. Exhaling deeply, he rests his head against the wall and puts his other hand on the blonde’s chest; every other position is uncomfortable. Honest. There’s no ulterior motive.

And here he goes again. Fuck it, it’s unfair how attracted Changbin is to him – and that’s only speaking about the looks. Them talking earlier just made him dig his grave deeper. It’s more of a pit now; sue him, he likes it extreme. At least Felix being nothing but a smug, cocky, teasing idiot is not attractive.

It's not.

…

Okay, it is.

All right, he can admit, on a physical level, his attraction to him is roughly as obvious as Jisung trying to hide presents in their apartment. Jisung just sucks at it. All of this is troubling and nothing he wants in his life per se, but they’d barely talked and the chances stand good that he won’t even like personality-wise. Whatever the blonde is trying to achieve with his offensive flirting, Changbin is not a one-night-kinda-guy.

And what _outstanding personality_ must the blonde have, if he’s flirting and classifying himself as _‘the sunshine himself’_ all the time? None. Simple. He’d realise Changbin’s not into this and he’d be gone soon enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is presented to you by my ridiculous fear of elevators.
> 
> Hope you guys are enjoying go live. I still have trouble deciding what my favourite song is, they're all so good


	4. Felix striking a deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> \--- Formerly "Our lovely banter" ---
> 
> “I’m good, I mean, look at me. Shining and beautiful like the sun itself~” “You look anything but right now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait~

The ground beneath him is cold and hard when he opens his eyes to see everything blurry. It takes a few moments to clear out, before a metallic ceiling that’s illuminated by a white, circular light manifests above him. His gaze lingers on it until the fog in his mind lifts and he recognises the place he’s in: the fucking elevator.

Right, he’d been in here with Changbin. They’d finally talked and everything was nice and dandy until karma decided he’d had enough luck and made him collapse, because of all things on earth to fear, he’s scared shitless of the dark. Yes, great Felix. Not embarrassing at all.

He moves, realising the position he’s in only now: His head rests in Changbin’s lap, a hand splayed over his chest and another buried in his hair. Unable to suppress his curiosity, he glances to the side and finds Changbin leaned against the wall, eyes closed and face eased with sleep. Strands of dark hair fall into his forehead and his nose twitches as he slumbers. Felix smiles, starring longer than he wants, but the sight is just too endearing.

With a deep breath, he closes his eyes and tries to not enjoy the warm fingers inwoven in his hair too much. God, how can he even enjoy an almost strangers attention so much? Changbin had been anything but nice and yet waking up in his lap is literally making him melt like ice cream in summer. Not to mention this… _tiny_ problem concerning his jealously…

It’s unreasonable because they aren’t even friends, he’s aware of that, but when this squirrel-like dude clings to Changbin… He just can’t fucking help it? Indeed, he’s a jealous person; always had been - it’s just that normally it’s not _this_ bad - while he’s at bad: there’s another dangerous thing happening right now. Jealously is one side of coin and when it's flipped, you have the exact satisfaction that swirls through his body, because Changbin is touching _him_ , and not anyone else. It’s absurd to feel like this and yet he does. Well, he will ignore this specific problem for the time being; he can already hear Hyunjin’s annoying voice whispering _whipped_ in his mind and that’s not helping him whatsoever.

With another exhale, he sits up which results in Changbin’s hands falling off him. Not a moment later does the other stir and blinks at Felix with adorably sleep-crinkled eyes. Changbin hums, a sleepy rumble from his chest and man, Felix’s heart does some weird acrobatics that makes him question if he should have joined an acrobatics team after all.

“You okay? Just fainted out of nowhere…” Changbin’s voice is sleepy and raspy and _god,_ someone should forbid this guy, put a lock on him and throw the key into the ocean... or Minho’s room.

A glance at the other’s face makes him marvel at how stoic and intimidating it already looks again. He cards the loose strands of hair back and quirks a brow when Felix doesn’t answer but instead quietly watches him. Right, he’s got to answer at some point. “I’m good, I mean, look at me. Shining and beautiful like the sun itself~” For his own sanity’s sake, he ignores the slow smile spreading over Changbin’s lips in answer.

“You look anything but right now.”

“Right _now,_ see? Normally, I do.”

Changbin snorts, an amused glint dancing in his eyes as he folds his arms. “If you want to believe that.”

“You don’t have any arguments against it anyway.” He smirks, more at ease with their banter. When Changbin doesn’t answer, Felix pokes his shoulder. “So, when are you going to apologise for being rude to me? Without a reason, I might add?”

“Who said it’s without a reason?” Changbin drags his eyebrow up and stares him down – it would be scary if not for the tiny twitch of his lips. Felix eyes him, confused what that reason should be. He did nothing wrong, nothing that would prompt anyone to be an asshole like he’d been, at least. “You’ve got no clue, do you?” At Felix’s headshake, Changbin sighs, arms unfolding and falling into his lap. “I hate it when Sungie is right.”

“Who’s Sungie?” Somewhere deeper down in his mind, he’s aware that there’s more pressing matters, like the reason, or what this “Sungie” is right about – but his mind zeroes in on the prospect of the name belonging to squirrel-guy, which would mean that Changbin must have talked about Felix and that-

His mind stutters to a halt when Changbin shows him a photo on his phone: Two people, Changbin and, to his chagrin, squirrel-guy are on it. The lighting is all off, Changbin sits on a couch holding a lazy peace sign into the camera, and squirrel-guy lies on his lap smiling cheekily. With a smile as fake as Hyunjin’s eyebrows, Felix nods to the display, “It’s the guy clinging to you all the time.”

Changbin nods in affirmation and returns the phone to the ground, looking pensive and unaware of the waves of jealously seeping out of Felix. “You know, there honestly is a reason why I ignored you.” Felix tilts his head, prompting him to continue. Changbin sighs, tousles his hair and averts his eyes to stare at a spot on the ground between them. “You destroyed something fucking expensive back then, when you threw my bag into the fire. I don’t think you even realised, but yeah, that’s it. That’s why I avoided you.”

Bag? What bag? He furrows his brows, about to voice his confusion, but then it hits him. Right, he’d been arguing with Hyunjin, and Minho had been on fire, so he’d taken what he’d assumed to be some cloth and yeah... That hadn’t been a cloth, after all it appears. Karma is truly out to get him. With Changbin’s eyes on him, Felix shifts, uncertain of what course of action to take – he’s not great with the _sorry_ stuff. After a moment of tense silence, he manages to speak again: “That’s no excuse for being an asshole to me, though.” Okay, that came out all wrong, didn’t he want to apologise?

Changbin snorts, “Isn’t it? So, what? You want an apology for me being an ass without apologising first?”

“Yup~” Felix smiles innocently and when Changbin attempts to say something more, he lifts a finger to quiet him. “I mean, you avoided me for a full week without telling me what I did. I may have apologised earlier, you know? Now you made it your turn to apologise first because you weren’t sincere with me.” He doesn’t act it, but internally, he high-fives his last brain cell for coming up with this marvellous comeback. Now he just has to play his cards right.

Changbin looks low-key amused. “Fine, I’m- “

“Ah, ah, ah. Not like this~” He stops him, with a wink and smirk that expands the emotional range of Changbin’s face to maximal exasperation. “Why don’t we form a deal as apology?”

“A deal? Isn’t it enough that I took care of you earlier?”

Well, in fact, that is sufficient for Felix. Actually, he doesn’t need to play this as big as he does, but he fears that once they leave this box of doom, they’ll part ways and never talk again. Everything tells him do anything to guarantee they’ll meet again. To put it plainly: He’s desperate. Pitiful, isn’t it? Changbin nudges his leg and Felix blinks, realising he’d been silent for too long. “Nah, I don’t think that’s enough. But with the right terms, I could eventually forgive you~” It’s risky, but he’ll dare it.

Changbin scoffs, granting him a look that screams _are you serious?_ Felix nods, which makes the other sigh and gesticulate with a lazy wave to continue. He genuinely didn’t think he’d get this far; he taps his chin as if in thought,“I’ll forgive you, if you give me a compliment whenever you see me and… a hug whenever I want one.”

“Isn’t that a little much?”

“It’s perfectly balanced as all things should be~”

Both of Changbin’s brows rise, _really,_ written all over his face. Felix shrugs, the smirk turning into a grin. “So, yes or yes?” He’s playing the stakes high, but he’s desperate and he hates it. If this fails, he’s got no Plan B either, so karma better not fuck with him right now.

A long, defeated exhale is step one to his victory. “Fine, I’ll humour you. For how long?”

“As long as I want.” No one will ever say Felix doesn’t have balls.

“You’re impossible.”

“Impossibly handsome, I know.” Felix winks and can’t help the smirk that looks more like a grin – this worked. How did this work? Hugs whenever he wanted? Compliments whenever they saw each other? He literally got all he wanted and more.

Changbin scoffs and smiles, slow and soft and Felix immediately knows he won’t ever get enough of seeing that smile. He claps his hands in excitement, unable to hide it. “It’s a deal then, yes?” he offers his hand and Changbin grunts in answer, taking it in a firm shake. It feels like the beginning of something great – whatever it is, Felix can’t wait for it.

.

.

.

Light shining into his eyes wakes him up the next time. It’s chilly and his limbs are stiff from the position he’d fallen asleep in. With a stifled yawn, he opens his eyes and immediately spots a gap between the doors where none had been before. Someone found them? Curious and hopeful, he moves, trying to get up, but as he proceeds, Changbin sacks sideways and groans, still half-asleep. All right, these sounds and emotions are too much to handle for him at this point.

“Is someone there?” To distract himself, he speaks towards the door in hope of someone hearing him.

“Oh my, someone’s in there? You okay?” a voice answers from outside; an old man by the sound of it.

“Yeah, we’re good. Can you get us out?” Freedom sounds wonderful right now.

“Sure, but it’ll take a few minutes. I’ll be back.”

The man walks away until Felix can’t hear him steps anymore.

“mornin’” Felix stiffens when Changbin’s sleepy voice hits his ears; the other didn’t move at all, so Felix thought he’s still asleep. Felix glances to the tousled form yawning his heart out next to him. It’s damnable endearing. “Spacing out again?”

“Sorry, sorry. Just thought about how lucky you are to wake up next to me~”

Changbin snorts and pushes him, “I see you’re yourself again, how lovely.”

“I know I’m lovely, but thanks.” With a shake of his head, Changbin doesn’t respond and instead gathers his things – Felix watches him for a moment before doing the same. Soon they’d leave and while he’d been successful in striking a deal, somehow he’s still uneasy about parting with the other – even if this mess called his emotions need a break to sort themselves out very badly. Maybe he should suck it up and show some appreciation – Changbin took care of him when he fell unconscious, after all.

“Hey Changbin?” He gets a hum of acknowledgment in response; Felix swallows down his pride and talks too quietly. “Thanks for taking care of me earlier.”A smile and nod is his reply; Felix smiles back, earnestly as he rarely does, not even trying to hide it.

“It looks like I misplaced my tools,” the maintenance worker says when he returns, “If you could me here- “He struggles to force the doors apart with his hands. “We’ll have to do it the tough way.” Changbin moves before Felix can, and puts his arms on the doors, forcing them apart as if they were cardboard and not metal. He gapes; he’s shorter than Felix- just, _how?_

The worker is impressed as well and cracks a ghastly joke while winking at Felix. Ugh, old people assuming they’re funny are the worst. The gap between the floor and the elevator isn’t huge, but big enough that they have to climb up. Changbin does so in a smooth motion, and preoceeds to kneel to offer Felix a hand. “Come here, sunshine. I’ll help you.”

Felix’s mind blanks at the nickname and his ears and cheeks flush. Wow, okay. That seldom happened to him. He laughs through his blush and accepts Changbin’s hand. They share a brief glance before Changbin lifts him up as if he weights nothing.

“There you go.” Changbin huffs, squeezes his hand before releasing it. “I’ll leave now. Sungie’s probably worried sick. Take care!”

“Don’t forget our deal!” Felix yells after him and observes the other’s back until he’s gone. Well, that had been one hell of a night. He can’t fully deal with the vast range of emotions he experienced yet. Honestly, all he wants is his bed and a long, good sleep.

He exchanges a quick thanks with the maintenance grandpa before heading to his dorm.

.

.

.

Felix enters his dorm with a relieved sigh and is surprised to see Seungmin, Hyunjin and Minho all crowded on his bed, deep in conversation. “Hey guys~ What are you all doing here? Been waiting for the light of your life to return?”

“Holy _fucking_ shit. If that isn’t the damned shithead we’ve been worrying about all night.”

“Where have you been all night? You didn’t come back and when I woke up your bed was still untouched. No text, nothing.” Seungmin scowls and reminds Felix of his mom when he’d come home too late from a night out.

“Sorry Minnie, I got stuck in an elevator… with Changbin.”

“Oh my god… Did you two fuck?”

Felix glares at Hyunjin with as much contempt he can muster in his fatigued state of mind. This guy truly had no filter at all. None. “Jinnie!” Seungmin hits the brunette’s shoulder, “Can’t you control your mouth for at least one second?”

“He can’t. No need for fancy, rhetoric questions.” Felix responds before Hyunjin can, which prompts latter to sneer at him.

“Fuck you too. Now I finally remember why I didn’t worry about you at all.”

“No one asked you to worry about me, anyway.” He shouldn’t take the bait, but Hyunjin just really fucking pisses him off.

“Good, ‘cause I couldn’t bring myself to miss a provoking, annoying fucktard like you anyway!”

“Come on, guys…” Seungmin cuts in, dragging Hyunjin back and rubbing his shoulder to calm him down, “Jinnie, you worried just as much as the rest of us. Wasn’t it actually you who brought up calling the police first?”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“It was.”

“No.”

Seungmin heaves a sigh, shaking his head in displeasure before slinging his arms around the brunette’s middle. “For fuck’s sake, Minnie- “

“Hush or I’ll tickle you.” Hyunjin attempts to protest, but Seungmin moves his hands to rest on his sides and just like that he shuts up – Felix is once more amazed at how effortlessly Seungmin deals with him.

“So… Changbin kidnapped and held you hostage in an elevator all night?” Minho speaks up, eyeing Felix with worry.

“No, he didn’t kidnap me- “

“He only kidnaps Felix in his kinky fetish dr- “Hyunjin’s sentence cuts off and morphs into a fit of giggles as Seungmin tickles him.

“You lived out your kinky fetish dreams with Changbin in the elevator?” Minho rephrases his question, less worried and more confused this time. Felix would be angry if anyone else asked him something as tasteless, but this is Minho. There isn’t a smile on his face, no joke intended and no humour in his voice – Minho is just confused. It’s his basic state of mind.

“No, he was in there when I entered and then we got stuck; lights going out and all that. Nothing kinky about it.” Felix glances between his friends while saying this and Minho’s eyes glaze over when he finishes – lost to the world again.

“The lights went out? How did you survive that?” Seungmin asks, concern lining his face.

Felix smiles, “turns out that Changbin is good at taking care of unconscious me.”

“Oh, fuck _that_ , don’t start gushing about him _again_.”

“I’m not gushing! Anyway, he’s finally talking to me~” Hyunjin roles his eyes at his words – it’s practically hearable, it’s that dramatic.

“Well, being stuck in an elevator together makes people talk, I’d imagine.” Seungmin shrugs as if it’s nothing special.

“Maybe~ But! I also made a deal with him as apology for being so mean~ It involves compliments and hugs and I still have no damn clue how I managed to achieve that, but I don’t care at this point~”

“ _G_ _od_. Lix, I swear, if you don’t stop talking about him I’ll fucking throw up on your bed.”

“Wait, did he accept all that? Just like that?” Seungmin eyes him curiously, choosing to not tickle Hyunjin in order to get an answer.

“Yep~! Couldn’t believe it myself.”

“Wow, fuck that. He must pine after your ugly ass as much as you’re after his emo looks. How _disgusting_.”

“I am not pining! And he doesn’t look like an emo! Jesus christ, why again am I telling _you_ stuff like this?”

“It’s cuz you love me.”

“Debatable.” Felix sighs and falls onto his bed, “Now, get out. I’m tired.”

Hyunjin complains but obeys and leaves together with Seungmin. Minho stays, curling up at the end of the bed like a cat would. Not that Felix minds; Minho could stay all he wanted. He’s fond of him, even if he’s a total airhead. With a yawn, he settles under his blankets after covering Minho up. Sleep eludes him for a while, his mind insisting of replaying their conversations, how he woke up in Changbin’s lap and the way he looked in the half-dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please give me feedback~
> 
> Also sorry for the long wait! I had a terrible month and while I wrote a lot, I didn't want to ruin this fic with my bad mood


	5. Changbin's inspiration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Why, hey, Changbinnie~ Don’t let us interrupt your date.”

A week passes in which Changbin doesn’t see Felix. He can’t say he minds it all that much; he doesn’t want to ignore the blonde again, but he’s also not keen on fulfilling those terms he agreed to. _Why_ did he even agree to them? It’s not like he has to apologise – at least not as much as this deal entails. They’re even, aren’t they? Felix burned his headphones and Changbin ignored him for a week. Still he accepted.

Parhaps it had been the atmosphere that evening? Bantering and teasing each other had been fun and when Felix had became unconscious, he worried for him and afterwards – well, Felix had just pulled out excuses from his ass but it’d been amusing so Changbin had gone along with it. Part of him wanted to do him a favour after he fainted, part of him was too amused by his antics to say no and well, Felix had been thrilled when he agreed.

It’s not like he minds complimenting Felix or even hugging him – it’s just that he has this very, _very_ tingling sense of danger that tells him Felix will ruthlessly use this agreement and enact it right in front of not only his friends but also a bunch of random people. Given, he’s not shy, still this is a little sudden? And a big step from ignoring him too.

To top it of, the blonde is confusing him. He’s amusing, even if his cockiness is eye-role-inducing and yet, Changbin can’t help but smile when he remembers the adorable expression as he slept on his lap. He can’t pinpoint what it is, but Felix fascinates and confuses him. He’s attractive, sure, but there’s more to it; more to his personality that’s hidden behind a thick wall of bad pick-up lines and proclamations of his beauty, and as much as it irks him, he wants to find out what it is.

“Don’t you look as if you didn’t sleep well at all.” Changbin snaps out of his thoughts as Chan walks into the kitchen. The elder looks amused as he takes his spot opposite of him.

“As if you can judge, you barely ever sleep.”

“Touché,” Chan grins and prepares a sandwich, which he offers to Changbin once its done. He accepts it with a thankful nod – it’s a routine at this point, that Chan makes food for everyone.

“Sungie isn’t up yet?”

Chan eyes him funnily, “You’re up before me, shouldn’t you know?”

… that’s a valid point.

“But no, I mean, it’s Saturday. Of course he isn’t. He’s probably in a food-coma after emptying the pantry again.” Changbin chuckles; that would be just like him.

They eat in silence afterwards; Chan tabs away on his tablet, munching on a sandwich. Changbin watches him quietly, listening to the silent hum of the radio. A warm breeze blows in from the window and sways the plants on top of the cupboards. It’s peaceful and lazy, Changbin sighs happily and Chan gives him a knowing smile.

“Our album got tons of positive feedback, have you seen yet?” The elder tilts the tablet to Changbin with a pleased smile. They released their album just yesterday and it already has a great reponse. None of them expected it but they’d gladly take it.

“I checked yesterday evening and there were already so many comments. Sungie will cry when he sees it.” He nods to Jisung’s door, which makes Chan snicker. The other gives the clock a searching glance, and a childish glint in his eyes gives away what’s about to happen: Chan takes the hardened bun from yesterday and, to no one’s surprise, flings it against Jisung’s door while yelling: “WAKEY WAKEY SLEEPYHEAD!”

A squeak from behind the door is the answer, followed by a thud that means Jisung fell from his bed again – the two laugh and high five. Honestly, something about Chan, the ever-mature workaholic Chan, throwing hard buns against Jisung’s door makes Changbin love him even more.

The youngest’s door eventually creaks open; his hair sticks in all direction and his eyes are still small from sleep as he sways in the doorway, eyeing them with a pout. “We need to fix the door.”

“Come here, Sungie.” Changbin pats the seat next to him and Jisung obeys, trotting over and falling into it. “Crispy even made you food.” The younger grumbles but doesn’t eat; instead he rests his head on Changbin’s shoulder and dozes off again - typical.

Chan looks at Jisung with fond exasperation. “I don’t know what I expected. Any luck with those lyrics you are stuck on?”

Changbin sighs, frustrated, because no, he’s still no further. “None, never been this stuck at anything before. It’s robbing me sleep.”

Chan eyes him thoughtfully for a while. He opens a website on his tablet and offers it to Changbin. “How about a change of scene? Whenever I have writers block, I’ll go to random places. This café here just opened a few days ago. It’s not far and supposed to be real cute.”

“But Binnie dislikes crowded places.” Jisung slurs, obviously not as asleep as they’d thought.

“I don’t think it’s crowded this early in the morning, though. Come on, Bin. Just try it. You can take Sung too.”

He doesn’t want to; newly opened and cute is just an invitation for tons of people to be there but Chan never accepts a no. “Fine,” he gives in, nudging Jisung to signal him to get ready. The younger grumbles, but moves to the bathroom. “Why don’t you come too?”

Chan waves in apology. “Planning to meet my boyfriend today.”

Changbin hums, not surprised at the troubled expression on Chan’s face. “He’s still giving you the cold shoulder?”

Chan’s expression falls into itself; it’s all the answer Changbin needs. He pats the elder’s shoulder, resting his hand for a moment and squeezing it before letting go. Chan is often troubled lately – Changbin’s knows who’s fault that is, but it’s not as if he can do anything. The elder is committed on keeping the identity of his boyfriend from everyone. There’s nothing him and Jisung can do aside from trying to cheer him up.

Sadly, lately they have to do it a lot more than usual. Changbin doesn’t like it at all; Chan shouldn’t huddle on the couch like a hurt animal. He deserves nothing but smiles and happiness. “If it doesn’t work out, just join us all right? You know you can always come to Sungie and me, right?”

Chan nods and starts cleaning the table. Changbin helps him until Jisung scampers into the kitchen – he looks more awake and almost excited; which he admittedly always does when they’re about to spend time together. Chan shoos them off once they gathered their things, but not before getting hugs from them both.

.

.

.

Their walk to the café is silent. Jisung clings to his arm the entire way and Changbin doesn’t miss the looks thrown their way – he’s aware of people misinterpreting what they see. He can’t say he cares much; it would be much harder to persuade Jisung to stop clinging to him. It’s not like he didn’t try. He did; but he quickly realised it’s a losing battle.

The café is, as expected, crowded. As soon as they enter, they stumble into the end of the line. He stiffens as the crowd closes around him – he can’t help it. With a few, measured breaths he tries to supress the increasing dread in him. Jisung takes his hand, shielding him from the people around them. It doesn’t help much, but he appreciates the effort. “Should we leave?” Jisung closes the proximity between them, talking in a low, soothing voice.

Changbin shakes his head; he would love nothing more, but something tells him that Chan will join them soon enough and he’s aware the elder feels better with a crowd around him. Especially on days like these. Jisung doesn’t need him to speak his thoughts – he comes to the same conclusion. The younger leads him away from the queue and to an empty table where he pushes him down into a chair. “The usual?”

He nods with a thankful smile and Jisung grins before rejoining the queue. Changbin looks after him before taking out his notepad – he’s not inspired; panicked describes it a lot better, but hey, it’s not as if they have enough angsty lyrics yet anyway. Totally not at all.

He leans back and cards a hand through his hair – the chair creaks softly beneath him. The café is rather small – especially for the amount of people milling inside –it’s decorated with plants and cutesy pictures all over. The walls are a soft orange and the floor is covered with light-brown wood. It has pastel coloured counters and an equally coloured sitting area. It’s not bad – not what Changbin would go to, though. He’s aware that he must stick out like a sore thumb; he eyes himself and smiles a little at the irony of wearing all black again today. It’s just what fits him best.

He might, just _might_ , posses a few pastel clothes, but he only wears those at home. Which is thanks to Jisung constantly ogling and calling him soft whenever he dares to bring them out.

Someone curses next to him and he can’t help but glance into the direction – a mistake – as he makes eye contact with Felix. _Why_ does he have to be here? A surge of something goes through his body; he knows that with that silly deal of theirs, he’d have to go there and compliment him. And maybe he would have done just that, but the blonde gives him a very disgruntled look that’s not exactly encouraging.

He lifts a brow in a silent question and Felix scowl deepens. All right, then? Changbin isn’t sure what to make of this, but he’s curious, so he gets up and makes his way to Felix’s table, glad for the distraction – it’s then he notices his two companions: Minho, who’s staring holes into his coffee and the loudmouth whose name Changbin still doesn’t know. Wow, it’s exactly as he thought this would play out: Him having to do this in front of the blonde’s friends and all that. How nice that at least his sense of foreboding is being fulfilled.

“Hey, guys.” He greets and six pairs of eyes focus on him.

“Why, hey, Changbinnie~” Felix cannot hide a smug smile but he still looks miffed. “Don’t let us interrupt your date.”

That’s where this is coming from? Changbin can’t help the lopsided smile forming on his face. Felix thinks he’s on a date with Jisung? He chuckles and gives the blonde an amused look. “I’m not on a date, silly.”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Felix mumbles, looking embarrassed if not also relieved; the guy next to him snickers. Felix sends him a glare before fixing expectant eyes on Changbin. “So, anything you want to tell me, Changbinnie?”

It’s amusing how easily Felix can shift back into his usual self. With a hum, he eyes the blonde for a purposefully long, quiet moment. Again, he wears an oversized sweater, hair revealing his forehead and a long earring dangles along his neck. Handsome as always, not that he would say that out loud. Felix tilts his head, eyes shining with amusement.

“Got a nice earring, sunshine.” It’s simple enough and not too direct. Felix eyes crinkle under the weight of his grin and Changbin buries his hands in his pockets. Attraction is a dangerous thing.

“Why, thanks- “

“Ugh,” the guy next to him groans loudly and successfully interrupts Felix, “ _sunshine?_ Are you guys for fucking real? This is so damn disgusting.”

“Jinnie, I swear- “Felix voice tumbles off into an angry whisper as the tension between them rises; they exchange sharp looks and ‘Jinnie’s’ face turns all red.

This is his moment to leave. He takes a step back and waves to Minho who doesn’t seem to be aware of his existence; no, in fact, he’s staring at a spot behind Changbin. Latter turns and comes face to face with a troubled Jisung who takes hold of his sleeve.

“Binnie… It’s Chan.” He points with his head to their table, where Chan sits slumped over with a steaming cup next to him. Changbin sighs; this is, sadly, not surprising yet it still breaks his heart seeing it.

They spent some time in the café that day, and between cheering up Chan, writing lyrics – which suddenly comes to him easy as pie – he periodically exchanges looks with Felix. They smile when their eyes meet, even if Felix’s is more reminiscent to a smirk. It’s a good, productive day; especially when Chan smiles again at the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a lot of work on this story, i hope to bring out another update before Friday. I'll be on holiday for two weeks after but I'll probably sneak a laptop to post another chapter for you guys~ 
> 
> Please give me feedback (you'll get a cookie in return)! <3


	6. Changbin meeting Felix “by chance”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s an automatic free trial; it doesn’t need your consent.” “So, if I drop you, I cancel it, I suppose?” “…No.”

Two days later Changbin is just in time for his morning lecture. He strolls across the campus, listening to music while going over the lyrics he thought of the day before. Something’s off about them, but he can’t quite put his finger on it. Jisung and Chan hadn’t been helpful either – they loved them, much to his chagrin.

As he enters the building, he notes that everything is oddly empty; a glance to his phone confirms that he’s running late. That’s what he gets for uselessly mulling over things, something he does a lot more recently. He rushes through the lobby and into the adjunctive hallway; luckily for him, the door to the lecture hall is still open. As he goes for it, a lean frame moves into his field of vision and blocks his way. Felix smirks at him as he looks up.

“Oh my, what a _coincidence!_ Good morning, Changbinnie~” Felix drawls and leans against the wall with a smooth move that probably only Felix could pull off this early in the morning.

Changbin scoffs; sure, coincidence, it’s not as if Felix has been spontaneously appearing next to him for weeks now. The blonde’s like an assassin who’s drunk, has been discredited and thrown out of the brotherhood for being too obvious.

For a moment Changbin eyes him, something Felix visibly relishes in. The way he lounges against the wall scream “confident as fuck” and as per usual, his appearance is flawless. The blonde has absolutely no business looking this good this early in the morning. “What a coincidence _indeed.”_ Despite the sarcasm lacing his words, he manages a lopsided smile, “thirsty for compliments, I take it?”

“Oh me? Never. What even makes you think that?” Felix’s eyes shine with amusement.

“Oh, I don’t know; perhaps it’s because I’ve never seen you in this lecture and you’re still here, standing right in front of the room. Without your bag, I might add.”

Felix hums, crossing his arms. “I think you’re on to something there, Sherlock.”

Changbin snorts and shifts his gaze over the blonde once more, “Got nice shoes.” He waves his hand in the general direction, purposefully picking the least personal thing he can compliment. Everything else would be too honest. Or perhaps he just enjoys how Felix’s face falls a little every time it’s impersonal.

“Changbinnie~” Felix whines, “can’t you do better than that?”

Changbin snickers and brushes past him, “Maybe I can~ Maybe I can’t~”

.

.

.

The next day, Changbin trots through the corridors while carrying Jisung on his back. Again. Because latter had tripped – again – and twisted his ankle – again. Did he mention this happened all the time?

“You really gotta be more careful, Sungie.” He chastises him under his breath, because Jisung is also rather heavy. Must be all the sweets he’s inhaling lately. “Did you gain weight or something? Or found Chan’s stash and ate it without sharing?”

Jisung grumbles and hits him, “first, I’m always careful and second, I’m making myself extra heavy to annoy you. It’s called spontaneous leg-day.”

Changbin scoffs, “Can’t remember signing up for this.”

“It’s an automatic free trial; it doesn’t need your consent.”

“So, if I drop you, I cancel it, I suppose?”

“…No.”

“You sure? I think I read it in the small print- “

“You didn’t.”

“I may just try it.” He loosens his grip a little and Jisung squeaks. Changbin chuckles, “Kidding.”

Jisung curses under his breath and Changbin laughs, feeling the pout that’s directed to the back of his head all too clearly. He rounds a corner and stumbles back when he almost walks into another person. “Oh~ Look at that, missed that bad already, Changbinnie?” Felix smirks and winks; then he notices Jisung and musters him in surprise. “Oh, and Jisung, too? My, aren’t you two lucky?”

“I wish, Sungie twisted his- “Changbin stops when the weight vanishes from his back and turns to see a slyly grinning Jisung.

“I totally forgot that _thing_ I have to do! Like, right now! Nice meeting you, Felix! Later, Binnie!” Jisung chuckles, already halfway down the corridor. Changbin’s brow twitches as he watches him run off – twisted ankle his ass.

“That was… unexpected.” Felix eyes the empty corridor before looking back to Changbin. Latter shrugs; he’s too used to Jisung’s weird antics at this point and honestly? He’s more interested in how the blonde looks today, because somehow his hair falls differently. It’s all soft and sway-y, covering his forehead and softly falling into his eyes. Felix tilts his head under his stare - he should learn to be subtle.

“Can’t get enough of my face, hm?” Felix teases with a smirk that looks less dangerous than usual – clearly the hairstyle’s fault.

“Never, sunshine.” He winks and sarcastically hits the blonde’s shoulder, “my, it’s fascinating how you can see right through me.”

Felix snorts and adjusts his bag, “I have to go, Changbinnie. Jinnie will behead me if I’m late.” His smirk widens a little as he gesticulates between them, “Hurry with your compliment, I’m waiting~”

“Bossy, aren’t we? I’ll spare you then,” He leans back as if mustering him, “you have a nice sweater.” Yep, he’s lame. But he can’t very well say that this haircut makes Felix look adorable. That’s not working yet – at least not for him.

“Aw~ Changbinnie, you’re terrible at giving compliments but I’ll take what I get.” Felix bumps his shoulder and walks past him, “Until next time! Don’t miss me too much~”

.

.

.

On Wednesday, Changbin thinks he’s safe. The blonde can’t cross his path ‘accidently’ three days in a row now, can he?

That’s at least what he convinced himself of as he walks across the campus, from lecture to lecture and eventually, he’s on his way to the studio without catching even a glimpse of the blonde. Not that he’s looking for him or anything. Not at all.

The elevator dings and the doors slide open to reveal the dark corridor laying ahead. It’s empty as per usual at this time of the day. He strolls along lost in his thoughts when suddenly, the door right next to him flies open with so much force, it bangs against the wall. Changbin doesn’t squeak as he jumps back.

In the doorway, Felix stands: he’s sweaty, breathing heavily and wears a smug grin that Changbin would like to punch off – it’s clear as day that the blonde waited for him, that little-

“Oh, look at that~ What a surprise! Came to see me dance, Changbinnie?” He winks, “Or just missed me that much, hm?” The blonde’s voice is breathy and dips lower than usual – it stirs something in Changbin’s stomach that he decidedly ignores.

“Yeah, you believe that,” he rolls his eyes, “got some nice sweatpants.” He points in their general direction before adjusting his bag and moving on to his studio with as much dignity as he can muster. In front of the door, he peeks at the blonde who pouts back at him. That’s what he gets. Changbin chuckles, opens the door, and vanishes behind it.

.

It’s long after midnight when Changbin steps out of the studio and into the unlit corridor. He worked on a few of 3RACHA’s projects and completely forgot the time, he got some work done; Chan will be happy. Once more he walks past the practice room from before, but

expects nothing to happen this late at night – until the door flies open to reveal a smug looking Felix who isn’t even actively trying to scare him _._ Nonetheless, Changbin yelps, voice a pitch higher than usual and stumbles back while his fist clenches his hoodie. Felix appears in the doorway with a smug, satisfied smirk on his face. Oh, this little- “God- “

“Aw, thanks~ I know, my handsomeness is godly, but you can call me Felix, I’ll allow it.” What a cheeky bastard. The blonde leans in the doorway all casual and smug and yes, he may be godly and handsome, but why in the ever-loving hell did he _have_ to do this?

They eye each other for a moment and as Changbin’s pulse returns to somewhat normal, he realises how absurd this whole situation is. He debates with himself for a moment before he readjusts his bag and walks to the elevator. Ignoring the blonde will be an excellent option. Like an annoying child, right? If you didn’t pay attention then- “Hey! That’s against the rules! Where’s my compliment?!” Felix yells and Changbin can hear the indignity in his voice.

“I made a deal with Lee Felix, not with god. You wanting a compliment is against the rules, since you’re godly and all that.” If that excuse isn’t bullshit then the blonde is an absolute angel. But they’re past making sense anyway.

“It’s not! Come back here, you- “The rest of the blonde’s complains cut off when the elevator closes between them. It’s petty, but it’ll show him.

Halfway across the campus, Changbin has already partially forgotten about what transpired. It’s only the slowly in loudness increasing footsteps from behind that tear him out of his thoughts; he turns immediately and faces Felix – way too close, mid-step and trying to bump into him full-speed. Just barely does he manage to turn around, unsure of what he’s trying to accomplish, but it doesn’t matter for Felix clearly doesn’t know what he’s trying to accomplish either: He’s way too fast and crashes into Changbin a second later. They stumble, as latter catches the blonde somewhat awkwardly – years of living with Jisung play their part in this – but the force is too great and they tumble to the ground.

Pebbles and branches dig into his back as he endures the brunt. The extra weight of the blonde on top squeezes the air out of his lungs and forces him to cough out a painful groan. What a pleasant end to this day, truly. “Jesus Christ.”

“… well, it’s my duty to spread beauty in this world, not faith.”

Changbin stills. How did he end up here, like this? Why? _Why_ him?

“Felix?”

“Yes?”

“Get off.”

“Not before I get my compliment.”

“Nice socks.”

“You can’t even see them, what if I don’t wear any?”

“I saw them earlier.”

“I took them off.”

“ _Felix._ ”

“All right, fine.” Felix lifts himself off and finally, he can breathe again. The blonde helps in pulling him up; dirt and stray leaves cling to him and he brushes them off with a huff. “You wanted that compliment that badly?”

“Not really. It’s just fun teasing you~”

“You’re an idiot and no one can convince me otherwise.” Changbin shakes his head, but can’t help the small, fond twitch of his lips. “I’ll go home now. Don’t follow me.”

.

.

.

Thursday morning, he wakes up with a distinct, pebble-sized pain in his back. He sighs as he lies and stares at the ceiling. For all the confidence the blonde carries around, he’s just as much a dumbass. He waits for him to pass by so he can get his compliments and jumps out of stray doors – and that in the middle of the fucking night. Not to mention what transpired after that. Really, that guy. He’s not just cocky – he’s a cocky dumbass.

And despite it all, it’s still endearing. Changbin can’t help but smile at him. Stupidly confident greeting? Smile. Pouting when he doesn’t get the compliment he wants? Smile. His laugh? Smile. Just seeing him? Smile. Being a dumb tease? Smile. His smile? Smile.

He presses his palms over his eyes. This isn’t going as planned; not that there had been a plan. When did he even start to enjoy the blonde’s presence so much? Why does even the thought of him inflict the urge to smile? Why does he want to randomly bump into him? Yes, one can even say he’s waiting and hoping for it all day and that- Wow. That’s like free-falling. Without a parachute.

Okay, he shouldn’t think about this so much, shouldn’t make a problem out of something that isn’t; at least not yet. They’re friends, he supposes. He can imagine Felix to be a wonderful friend. And for his own peace of mind, it’ll stop there. Problem solved. No feelings involved. Easy as pie.

Fuck that, who’s he kidding? He should’ve aborted this entire thing as soon as his stupid brain started calling him sunshine.

“Ah, what a bother you are.” He peels himself out of his blankets, back cracking as he stretches his limbs with a yawn. He’s hungry and he can hear Jisung and Chan argue in the kitchen. It’s too early for this, honestly, although their arguments tend to be funny most of the time.

He changes into a comfy hoodie and black pants before strolling into the tasty smelling room. The hardwood floor is cool under his feet but the air is warm and smells like coffee and toast. The radio hums some relaxing tunes that are drowned out by the argument his two best friends currently partake in. Chan, topless and with mused hair, fixes Jisung with an irritated glance. Jisung crosses his arms petulantly. “Sung, you promised me the last cup.”

“I made no promises like that! I prepared it, so it’s mine.”

“Are you kidding me? You said you’d leave it for me- “

“I did no such thing; you’re too fat for cacao anyway- “

“I’m not fat, what the- “

“Mom told me to never tell lies!“

Changbin sneaks over to his chair and observes their bickering for a while. The two don’t appear to notice him, so he takes the time to longingly eye the steaming cup of cacao that is – conveniently – placed right in front of him. With no one watching it. Funny that they would abandon it like that and _funny_ how he would love some cacao now.

How did that saying go again? If two argue, the third wins? …does it even matter? He takes the warm cup and sips on its contents; he barely hides his pleased sigh as the sweet chocolate milk runs down his throat.

“Okay, rock-paper-scissors.”

Changbin looks up in time to see Chan nod and observers his two roommates battle – Chan promptly loses. With a happy cheer, Jisung turns to the table - oh uh. Their eyes lock and Changbin’s hand stiffens around the now empty cup. Houston, we have a problem.

“Oh, hey there. Good morning, guys.” He chuckles nervously but it turns into an audible gulp when Jisung’s eyes darken at the sight of the cup resting in his hands. Right, it’s time to go. He throws Chan a somewhat panicked glance but the elder looks at him with lifted hands as if to say _keep me out of this dude._ What a traitor.

“Oh, my! Will you look at the time? I forgot I had this- this _thing,_ I needed to do! Yeah, right, see you later guys!” He slams the cup down - Chan winces – and sprints out of the apartment in record time. Jisung is scary when he’s angry or wanted revenge. Their path’s better not cross today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I wanted to post this earlier but holy heck, I send an application, was invited a day later and suddenly I have a new job and my mind just fled my body for the last 48 hours lol 
> 
> anyway, next two weeks I'm on a holiday, but I'll try my very best to get out a chapter! Next one will be Felix again~


	7. Felix getting compensation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Fucking ass didn’t have to throw stuff.” “You didn’t have to be a prick either."

Thursdays aren’t so bad. Hell, the entire week hadn’t been bad. Who could have known that teasing Changbin would be that much fun? Not to mention his successful double surprise attack – he never danced as much in a single day as the day, in which he waited for Changbin. What even did he do in that tiny room all evening long?

His sore muscles are worth it though. Scaring him was hilarious and getting compliments – no matter how bad they are – all but makes up for it. Not to mention their mutual teasing… It honestly surprises him how easily Changbin deals with him and the deal they made: no blushing, cursing or grumbling, no, instead he’s outright talking back at him and never misses a witty reply. Never had he been around a more pleasant person than Changbin – not that that’s hard to accomplish with his current set of friends.

Truthfully, talking to him and squeezing the compliments out of him shouldn’t be this much fun, but his personality, the tiny smile and the way he easily brushes him off keep replaying themselves in his mind. What stands out most, though, is Changbin’s stoic face morphing into open and soft when he spots Felix somewhere in the hallways. These moments never fail to make him smile, and no matter how much Hyunjin rants about him being obsessed, he won’t stop spontaneously grinning as they resurface in his mind. Even if he completely disagrees with the other’s opinion: He’s not obsessed – he can appreciate nice things and that’s all there is to it.

With a quick flick of his wrist, he checks his phone as he strolls into the cafeteria. Changbin should be here by now, alone as always - at least he hopes so. Laughter and chatter fills his ears, along with the sound of clattering plates and chairs being moved. It smells like cooked meat and tomatoes – he’s not fond of tomatoes, so the scent isn’t pleasing, but the queue by the counter is as long as ever.

He spots Changbin on the other side of the room, sitting alone as he hoped. The other’s back is turned to him and without missing a beat, he walks to him with a teasing remark forming on his lips. Just as he’s close enough to speak, a loud, angry voice makes him freeze. “Seo Changbin!” Is that… Jisung?

Someone pushes him to the side, and Jisung storms past him. He beelines for Changbin, grasps the latter’s stiff shoulders and shakes him. “You really thought you could get away with drinking _my_ cacao, you little- “

Changbin sputters, trying to shake him off. “Ya, Sungie, stop- “

“You better have a damn good reason- “

“Wasn’t it Chan’s anyway- “

“Wha- Why are you teaming up with that guy?!” The two struggle until Changbin loses his balance and slips off his chair with a yelp. Jisung, draped all over him, follows suit and with a thud, they land on the floor. It’s not enough for Jisung to let up on his assault, though, because he resumes tickling Changbin as if nothing happened.

Felix stares at the pair. They’re so very weird.

“Ya, stop- “Changbin croaks out between his _giggles_ before he begins full out laughing a second later. It’s high-pitched and sounds oddly adorable. Felix didn’t expect it, but he’s even more shocked by the way his nose is all scrunched up and eyes tiny and crinkled. Man, he should totally make someone put a lock on him. Why does he have to morph into a giggly mess? And how dare Felix like it so much? At this rate, he’ll be obsessed.

When Jisung stops, he smiles down at Changbin’s dishevelled form with a deceiving, innocent smile. He says nothing, instead he snatches Changbin’s dessert and leaves. With a huff, Changbin sits up and tries to order his messed up hair.

“Clingy boyfriend?” Felix asks before thinking and cringes at his missing filter. Did he have to say that? Can’t this stupid jealously just fuck off, please?

“He’s not my boyfriend.” Changbin scoffs and adjusts his hoodie before looking at Felix. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“Thought I’d bless you with my beauty, as usual~”

Changbin rolls his eyes, “can’t describe how blessed I feel right now.”

“No problem.” Felix smirks as they sit down. A brief silence ensues, so he bumps their shoulders. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Changbin hums and gives him an innocent smile, “Maybe I did? Why don’t you remind me?”

“Oh, you forgot? Must be your old age, hm? Or perhaps my gorgeous presence?” Felix smirks and waves his hands up and down his body with a wink.

“That’s low, even for you, sunshine. But if you don’t know either, I’ll leave.” Changbin stands up, but Felix catches his wrist before he can even think about walking away. He squeezes it once but doesn’t let go, a smirk forming on his lips.

“All right, if you insist on playing dumb, I want a hug as compensation.”

For a split second, Changbin looks surprised, then he reels back, “Ah, I suddenly seem to remember! I wanted to tell you what nice… arm hairs you have.”

“Oh, why, thanks. I still want a hug.” He opens his arms and wiggles his fingers invitingly. Changbin sighs, looking reluctant, but he relents quickly and engulfs him in a warm embrace.

“You’re insufferable.” The words blow warm air over his neck, which sends a shiver down his spine. All right, this isn’t going as planned – he aimed to tease and now he’s enjoying this a little too much. Changbin’s arms are tight around him and Felix just knows that his ears will turn red any second now.

With a last squeeze Changbin lets go of him and Felix relishes and mourns the distance that’s regained between them. God, he’s done for; good that Hyunjin isn’t around. He clears his throat and pulls himself back together. “If you mean insufferably handso- “ Changbin puts a hand over his mouth before he can finish.

“Don’t.” The other pleads, but looks amused as he takes his hand back. “I’m leaving. Let’s not meet again today, okay?”

.

.

.

“- and you should have seen that! It was the cutest thing ever, the way he giggled and scrunched up his nose – oh, and his laugh, it was so precious, like- “

“Oh my god. _Stop._ You’re so whipped. What the fuck.” Hyunjin interrupts him with a groan, looking disgusted. “You’ve made that deal with him, like what, two weeks ago? How the fuck you fell for that emo so fucking quickly?”

Felix sputters, slamming his milkshake to the table. “I am _not_ whipped, all right? I can just appreciate nice things.”

Hyunjin raises his thinned eyebrows and snorts. “Sure. That’s why you’re waiting for him to pass you by all the time. Or be an annoying twat gushing about him constantly.“

“Not to mention that you stare at Jisung as if you will murder him when they touch.” Minho adds in quietly, eyes fixed on a spot behind Felix’s head.

“Talk Min, you look at Changbin the same way.” Seungmin joins in, but Minho doesn’t react, which is typical. Felix snickers, but oh- oh, wait.

“Does Minho like Jisung?” Jeongin pipes up and asks what Felix wondered. The younger looks out of place in their group with his shy appearance; Seungmin had only recently started bringing him along. 

“No, not at all. The hoe’s so fucking un-obvious it’s a wonder that squirrel hasn’t noticed it himself yet.”

“Jinnie, can you be nice to Innie.” Seungmin hits Hyunjin’s shoulder but latter looks unapologetic.

“Oh, it’s not a problem, really.” Jeongin blurts, voice dipping into a nervous chuckle.

“Is it true that Minho just stared at him when they first met?” Felix confirms Seungmin’s question with a nod and Hyunjin cackles.

“He has weird ways of showing people he wants to fuck.“

“I _don’t_ just want to fuck him.” Minho cuts him off, his serene aura evaporating as he glares at Hyunjin. “But someone as stupid as you wouldn’t be able to see that.” The sudden tension in air makes Felix stiffen. Shit, Minho rarely lost it, but when he did… it’s never pleasant. Seungmin must think the same, because he throws a warning glance at Hyunjin, who ignores it, which is also typical.

“Wow, holy shit! You’re just as whipped as Lix. Damn, I’ve never seen you this involved in life.” The disbelieving laugh is the last drop it takes; Minho’s eyes turn small and if looks could kill, Hyunjin would be a zombie in the walking dead now. With abortive gesticulation, Seungmin tries to tell Hyunjin to shut the fuck up, but it’s too late. It’s always too late with Hyunjin. Minho scoffs, takes Felix’s milkshake, removes the lid and throws the entire thing at the laughing brunette. Just like that. Latter gasps and Felix can only watch in horror as his money sinks into his clothes.

“So, what if I’m whipped? What if I suddenly seem alive? At least I’m not a pitiful klutz who can’t express his feelings without insulting others!” It’s weird to hear Minho’s usually soft and airy voice like this; aggravated and loud. He huffs, turns and leaves them in a pressing silence.

Jeongin is the first to move. He chuckles nervously and offers Hyunjin a paper towel. Seungmin clucks his tongue, “You’re such an idiot, Jinnie.”

“Fucking ass didn’t have to throw stuff.” Hyunjin complains, but no one’s fooled by his angry facade: there’s a wild, surprised glint in his eyes.

“You didn’t have to be a prick either.” Felix ignores the glare directed at him.

“I’m not getting out of this without an apology, am I?”

“Nope.”

“Fuck me.”

“In your dreams.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long!! Holiday was super busy, now everything with my jobs is fucked up, but at least I still love writing, eh? xD
> 
> Next up is... oh, what's that? Neither Changbin or Felix :D


	8. Minho's Interlude: The animal shelter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “And next time you watch where you’re going, young man- Hey! I’m talking to you!”

“And next time you watch where you’re going, young man- Hey! I’m talking to you!” The old lady's rant drifts into the background as his brain resumes the daydream he had been lost in minutes prior. He walks along the pavement – at least he thinks so – towards the animal shelter to pet some cats. He loves cats - nothing is better than to bury your hands in their soft fur and listen to them purring. One cat by the name of Doongi is his absolute favourite. As soon as he enters the shelter, she’ll come running to him and not leave his side. How he wishes he could take her home, could give her a place to stay and scratches every day, but living in a dorm sadly makes it impossible. Like this, she’ll be adopted one day and as much as he wants for her to find a forever home, he’ll miss his favourite ball of fur.

It's nearly been half a year since he started going regularly and as much as one thinks he should be able to find his way there easily… He stops, snapping out of his mind as his surroundings lose their familiarity - as much as he should be able to find his way, he might just have missed a crucial turn a few junctions prior. His phone luckily has a good connection, so he opens the map and finds himself on the other side of the city, opposite the direction of the shelter. He blinks at the screen as if it spoke another language. How did that happen…? Did he dream about going into the right direction? Or… did he dream up the whole shelter-visiting routine? No, that can’t be. Doongi couldn’t be a figment of his imagination… right?

With a few taps, he scrolls through his photos, past a posing Felix and hideously grimace of Hyunjin to find a bunch of pictures of Doongi. Okay, no dream. Good. The phone lands in his pockets with a relieved smile once more as he turns on his heel, nearly runs over another old lady and makes for the shelter. It takes but five seconds for his mind to fall into his daydreams again – only to be ripped out of them a moment later: He squints his eyes and realises he’s sitting on the ground, right in front of the headlights of a car that shine directly into his eyes. Oh.

Not again.

“Minho! You okay, man?” Within seconds of spotting him, his attention is all but fixed on Jisung rushing to his side, bombarding him with a thousand questions and eyeing him worriedly all over. It’s too much input at once, enough that he can’t even bring himself to wonder where the other had suddenly come from. Unable to keep his eyes off him, he takes the offered hand and denies being in pain – he hadn’t even noticed falling… or the car. Jisung trails off into a rant about paying attention, not letting go of his hand as the driver of the car comes out and scolds them both – it’s only when Chan appears, ushers them to the pavement and consoles the man that they’re left alone.

“You okay?” Chan addresses him, ignoring Jisung’s panicked squawking and sighs in relief when Minho nods in confirmation. “Good, I gotta run. Don’t make Sung hyperventilate.” With that, he disappears around a corner with a wave and leaves him alone with Jisung, who’s hovering next to him like a ball of restless energy. His face is tugged into a pout as he stares to where Chan disappeared - it’s rather adorable.

“You’re adorable.” Jisung stills, and he’s unsure if it's because of what he said or his wayward fingers poking the other’s cheeks. They look at each other and while Jisung doesn’t bat his fingers away, he looks overwhelmed with the situation so he retracts them anyway. Did he say too much again? Hyunjin kept scolding him for either being too absentminded or too direct – he’s never been able to strike a balance. He’s not sure if it is because of his inability or the fact that Hyunjin is just a terrible teacher.

“Where were you going?” Jisung snaps him out of his thoughts with a wave of his hands and a scoff. “Are you always that easily distracted? Man, you gotta be more careful.” His brows scrunch up, and even like this, all serious and worried, he looks stunning. He can’t help but stare, watching the downturn of his mouth and the pout forming. His cheeks are round and even, hair neatly styled, and his clothes finish it perfectly. With a small smile, he realises that he’s got the younger all to himself, all alone, without Hyunjin to ruin it or Changbin to distract him.

“Shelter.” He says and startles Jisung with his sudden answer – adorable.

“Shelter? What about it?”

“I’m going to the shelter to pet cats. Join me?” The surprise is evident on Jisung’s face, and Minho almost thinks he has to coax him somehow, but to his own surprise, he gets a slow nod in return. Without further words, but double the awkward silence, they walk. After a good fifteen minutes, they realise they’re walking in the wrong direction, which earns him a teasing remark and a scolding that can’t be counted as one with the chuckles that’re accompanying it. If Jisung thinks he had been daydreaming again, he lets him believe it, because while he hadn’t been for once, Jisung is just as much of a distraction.

“So, you like cats?” Jisung’s question is tentative and silly – why would he go to pet cats if he didn’t like them? But he entertains him, happy to have any kind of conversation.

“I do, I have a favourite there.” He’s sure Jisung would cut the conversation short because he only nods and stays silent, but it turns out to be him wrecking his brain for what to say.

“You go there often then?”

“Twice a month, usually.” This time, the conversation stops, but the awkward silence doesn’t return: Instead they walk the remaining distance in pleasant silence. Once inside the shelter, Jisung follows him quietly and coos as they enter the cat room and are surrounded by a bunch of kittens running their way. Doongi finds him immediately and demands pets with her squeaky meows – Minho obeys, and scratches her head, not missing how Jisung stumbles over a toy, scares half of the cats present and earns himself a scratched hand. He can’t help his chuckle, especially not when Jisung sends him a pout in return.

“I think they don’t like me.” He complains once they’re seated on the tattered pillows lining the floor. Contrary to what he says though, an all black cat claims his lap and makes itself comfortable. He pets it cautiously, but once he realises it means no harm, he becomes more relaxed and glances to him – and his lap, in which Doongi is curled up. “Man, she must really love you. Why don’t you adopt her?”

He would love nothing more than to adopt her, but… “I live in a dorm. I can’t, but I’d love to.” He frowns at the ball of fur in his lap, Jisung apparently notices his soured mood and pats his shoulder. The minutes after tick by too quickly for his liking: They talk and watch a pair of kittens play with a ball of yarn. Some of them topple over as they chase it, and it’s outrageously cute. They share laughter and small talk as Jisung tries to re-wrap the wool. Doongi snores in his lap, and he absentmindedly pets her head as he watches Jisung fight with the purple thread. The younger’s fingers are thin and tanned, and not a minute later marred with thin scratches as the kittens find them more interesting than the wool. Jisung doesn’t seem to mind, he just laughs and appears to have lots of fun, what makes Minho’s stomach twist happily.

Time passes and most of the cats settle down to sleep. Jisung idles around with an elderly one that barely moves its paws as they play, and the silence, quietness and peace of the moment is just beautiful. It’s as if they’re on a date and yeah, the thought is not good for his face that already hurts from smiling so much. Normally, in the quiet of this room, he would drift off into his mind, but somehow it’s impossible to do so with Jisung around. Like an anchor does his presence keep him here, making him unwilling to miss even a minute of their time spent together.

“You know,” Jisung breaks the long-lasting silence and comes to sit in front of him, elderly cat in tow, “you’re a lot more normal today. No offence.” The younger means it and he can tell – it doesn’t change the fact that it hurts hearing it. How often did people tell him he’s weird? Hyunjin alone did it daily, and while he doesn’t mind him doing it, Jisung is another thing. He doesn’t want him to think he’s weird. In response, he shrugs, not sure what to say. The younger leans back on his hands and grins. “Why are you so absentminded, anyway? Isn’t it boring being in your head all day long?”

The question worms its way into his thoughts. Why, indeed? An active imagination? Lots of ideas and thoughts? But would that explain why he walks in front of cars and into people regularly? No. Telling the whole truth, though? He shifts in his spot, feeling uncomfortable. It had never been bad at home, but… Telling Jisung about it the first time they really talked?

“Force of habit, I guess.” Not what he should have said, because Jisung tilts his head in further question and while he would have said no to anyone else, he doesn’t want to keep it from him. Yeah, if something like love at first sight exists, it happened to him, and it makes him want to talk, be aware and present. “It wasn’t very nice back at home as I didn’t grow up with my parents. I just… made up my own worlds, my own parents and people that cared for me. I did for years, I guess it stuck.”

As expected, Jisung’s face crumbles. It was too much, too soon. He should have known that. The younger would probably make up some excuse now, would try to leave and- His thoughts screech to a halt when he suddenly finds himself in a tight hug. Too surprised to say anything eloquent, he winds his arms around the other and squeezes back. Doongi flees from his lap, but he can’t bring himself to care. “I’m sorry.” The younger’s voice is choked. “I’m so insensitive, I shouldn’t have asked. I’m so sorry, god.”

“It’s okay.” He quickly reassures him, “I’ve never known my parents, and my relative just didn’t care much about me. Nothing bad happened, I promise.” He’s unsure if his words soothe the other’s conscience, but the hug breaks eventually and an employee shoos them out. They had stayed until closing time, and he hadn’t even felt the time pass. The awkward silence returns heavily as they walk through the park opposite the shelter. Jisung keeps refusing to look at him, and Minho is seriously considering asking Seungmin to teach him what to say and what to keep to himself.

Ten minutes into their walk, Jisung speaks again, biting his lip in between words: “You know, I grew up without my dad. I never knew him either, but at least I had my mom… I’m sorry I made you relive that, I should have known better.” The younger finally meets his eyes as he relents a piece of his own past and despite the sad truth of it, he can’t help but crack a smile. He’s happy that they’re sharing these things with each other, no matter how sad they are.

“Don’t apologise, it’s okay. My parents are both dead, I don’t feel anything bad toward them.” He gives the other’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze and they slack, pressure falling off them. Jisung’s answer is a nod, and a forced smile. Obviously, he still feels bad, but what is he supposed to say to remedy that? “Remember what you asked previously? It’s because of you.”

“What’s because of me?” Jisung’s steps falter and Minho matches him. They come to a stop in a small pathway close to the end of the park.

‘That I’m more normal today. When you’re around, I don’t want to daydream all the time.” It’s a simple truth, but it makes Jisung’s cheeks flame up like a fire on dried wood. For a split second he believes he said too much again, but then Jisung smiles, if a bit abashed, and accepts it with a tiny nod and a breathy “Oh”. The silence accompanying them afterwards is born of mutual understanding and misses all previous awkwardness. Only when they have to part ways a few intersections later, is it broken for a last time:

“Thanks for taking me along, was fun.” In a visibly nervous gesture, Jisung bites his lip and holds out his hand. “Can you unlock your phone for me?” He does as told, feeling a pleasant tingle where their hands touch. Jisung types something into his phone and hands it back with a shy smile. “Text me when you visit Doongi again, okay? And be careful on your way back!” With that he waves and runs away, leaving him to stare at his phone.

Later, in the silence of his empty dorm, his smile is so wide it hurts when he opens another message from him. A simple cat smiley, but it’s all it takes to secure the younger a place deep within his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I very much enjoyed writing this. Who's POV (aside Changbin and Felix) would you be interested to see next?
> 
> Next Chapter will be long and Changbin POV! :]
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


	9. Changbin with a bunch of idiots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Ready for mission Koala?” “No, not really, but I have no choice, do I?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ate lots of words. He a big boi

It’s Friday and Changbin is alone in the kitchen. Which is unusual, because normally Chan should be here, making him food, keeping up some light small talk and occasionally humming to the music the radio offers. But Chan isn’t here, and so Changbin makes his own sandwich while wondering how the other could forsake him like this. He sips on his cacao and enjoys the sweet taste. Sleep still hides in his bones, his eyes are tired and his pyjama is all kinds of crinkled, but warm. With a sigh, he presses the warm cup against his forehead and his eyes fall shut. He’s so damn tired. Why does he have to have a lecture _this_ early in the morning?

Times passes and Jisung’s creaking door takes him out of his impromptu nap. That damned door – they wanted to fix it since the day they moved in, but probably never would. “Mornin Binnie…” Jisung slings his arms around his neck and falls against him, sleepy voice drowned in the movement. Changbin, unable to balance out the force, is pushed over and spills his cacao all over the table. “Oh, whoops. Sorry about that.” Jisung mumbles, but doesn’t move an inch.

He sighs. “This happens every few weeks, Sungie. How do you even manage? At least go get a towel or something.”

“But you’re so comfy and warm, I don’t want to move.”

“You’re like a monkey. One of these small ones. Capuchins.” Cautiously, he scoots back and gets up, pulling Jisung along with him. When the younger doesn’t let go, he huffs and makes his way to the counter to get paper towels. “You’re making this harder than it has to be.”

“Got to live up to my name and all that.”

“Your name is Jisung, there’s nothing to live up to.”

“You just don’t know it’s secret meaning.”

Changbin scoffs and wipes the spill. Jisung let’s go halfway through and falls into his chair. “Aw, thanks for making me a sandwich.”

“I didn’t- “Changbin stops when he realises it’s too late. Jisung is already eating his food. “Yeah… No problem, you little thieving capuchin.”

“I’m bigger than you, though.”

“Really? Could’ve fooled me; you don’t exactly act the part. Hey, ouch! Geez, thieving, violent little capuchin.” Once he disposed of the wet paper, he prepares more cacao while Jisung munches on his food. He understands Chan’s generosity with making their sandwiches in the morning a little better now. A little.

“Here you go, little fella.” He places a steaming cup of cacao in front of the younger.

Jisung huffs, “when I told you I wanted a cute nickname, I didn’t mean this.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers.”

The younger rolls his eyes and takes a sip of his cacao; he burns himself promptly and hisses. “Oooouw- Why is this so damn hot~”

“We really need to make a list of how often you burn youself. Feels like every day. You like the pain or something?”

Jisung takes the glass and presses his tongue against it, presenting Changbin with a ghastly, detailed view of it. Leave it to Jisung to do something like this, instead of drinking the water like a normal person would. The younger wags his eyebrows and grins. “Babe, you bet I do.”

“Ugh, disgusting capuchin.”

“Will you stop with that name already?”

Changbin grins, “Babe, you bet I won’t.”

Sometime later the glass is back on the table and Jisung is blowing the cacao to cool it down. He’s also munching on the remains of his sandwich, and Changbin is wise enough to make him another one before preparing one for himself. They eat in silence for a while, until Changbin checks the time and can’t help his frown, “Is Chan not home or something? It’s weird that he isn’t up before me.”

“Because you have to make your food yourself?”

Changbin flings a crumb at him. “Hilarious. Seriously, though. You know something?”

Jisung eyes Chan’s door thoughtfully. “He could be at his boyfriend’s? Maybe they made up? Though, it didn’t much look like it.”

“It’s gotten worse, hasn’t it? I wonder why he’s always trying to hide it from us.”

“Should we try to cheer him up?”

Changbin lifts a brow, “any ideas how?”

“We could spy on him today and then we’ll figure something out!” If that’s not an invitation for disaster, then he doesn’t know either.

“Seriously? _Spying_ on him?”

Jisung grins, a glint in his eyes that tells Changbin that his fear is true: This will either end in a disaster or a catastrophe. He sighs, hiding his face in his palm, knowing full well he’s fighting a losing battle. “This seems familiar. You’re dragging me into something I do _not_ want to be a part of. You little evil capuchin.”

“Binnie~ You wouldn’t deny my radiant smile, anyway. Deep inside you want it too; it’s just you trying to be mature that makes you say that.”

“You know what? This sounds an awful lot like something Felix would say, and he’s never planning anything good.” As soon as the words leave his mouth, he knows it’s a mistake mentioning the blonde. There’s a whole new level of slyness taking over Jisung’s face.

“Felix, huh?” Jisung eyes him with a knowing smile. “You’ve been bringing him up an awful lot lately. Felix this, Felix that… Something happened I should know of?”

“No.“

“I mean, he’s good looking.“

“No. I mean, _yes,_ but no.” He sighs, knowing by the sparkle of amusement in Jisung’s eyes that he walked right into his trap. Great Changbin, fantastic.

“Sorry, Binnie. I just wanted to tease you. I mean, if you like him, go for it, but if you don’t, that’s fine too. He seems nice enough though.”

“You’ve never talked to him. How can you know?”

“You’ve been telling me about your meetings every day. I might as well know him by now.” …that’s a valid point.

He cards a hand through his hair, feeling troubled. “I like him. He’s a tease, but he’s fun. He’s just… I don’t know how to say it; completely out of my league?” That’s not all there is to it – honestly, there’s a lot to it, a lot of weird, conflicted and complicated feelings and he doesn’t know where they all come from. But that’s this part of him, part of his past that makes him like this – doing what he wants, taking it, living his feelings – it’s troubling and paired with an excessive amount of unfounded worry.

He's not good at “going for it”. Even if he wants to. That’s why he loves and hates this. Felix and he clicked, at least on a surface level. They had talked little, no actual conversations or anything. Still, on the surface they clicked. He likes it as much as it worries him, because he’d never had deeper feelings for anyone… but Felix? Felix feels like a person where this could happen. He’s not sure how to deal with that or the anxiety it brings.

“Binnie?” Jisung snaps him out of it. “Welcome back. Rarely see you space out like that, you okay?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Take it easy. There’s no need to rush, okay?”

“I wish it was that easy. Anyway, I got to go. Text me because of Chan.”

.

.

.

It’s not until after lunch that Jisung tells him to meet up at a corner of the campus he rarely frequents. He greets the younger as he arrives and catches the incoming hug that’s more similar to a monkey clinging to a tree. “You always act as if we haven’t seen each other for years, when it’s only been a few hours.”

“Well, who knows?” Jisung grins, “maybe I’m a time traveller and haven’t seen you in years. Ever thought of it?”

“I think you’re an idiot and that’s about it. Sounds right to me.”

“Geez, you’re so mean, Binnie. Anyway, ready for mission Koala?”

“No, not really, but I have no choice, do I?” Jisung’s smile widens and yep, he’ll regret this.

Jisung doesn’t even answer and attaches himself to Changbin’s arm and pulls him into an adjunctive corridor. “All right, so Channie spends a lot of time here, with some of his producer friends. There’re music rooms on this floor, we should check them.” They enter a hallway that smells like old, worn wood and the linoleum which lines the floor.

“So, I presume you’ve got no clue where he is?” Changbin asks, hopeful that they won’t have to look into every single room.

“Absolutely not. We’ll have to check.” Great. They walk to the closest door and come to a stop in front of it in inconclusive silence. No sounds permeate the door, the keyhole isn’t a hole and the whole door is, in conclusion, a big, wooden slab that tells absolutely nothing. Why again did he expect this to be easy?

He bumps Jisung’s shoulder, “So, how will we do it? Opening it is too obvious.” Jisung eyes the door in thought and after what appears to be a lengthy, internal debate, he puts his ear to it and listens. Wow, make room, he’s with a genius.

“Can’t hear anything.”

He rubs his temple, “no shit, sherlock.”

“Let’s try to open it quietly _.”_ Jisung nudges him and, of course, he’ll once more be the one to bring Jisung’s brilliant ideas to reality. The door doesn’t budge, to his delight. “Off to the next then!” Jisung cheers excitedly and pulls him along as if this were some grand adventure. The next doors are closed too - only after checking half of them, do they find one that opens. Changbin peers through the slight crack and sees music stands, a white wall and nothing else. It’s silent and unoccupied.

“Empty.”

“I want to see too.” Jisung move impatiently next to him and whines, trying to push Changbin out of the way.

“Ya, stop it, you’re too loud.”

Jisung pushes him around and Changbin kneels down, giving Jisung a chance to peek in. “Annoying capuchin, can’t you have some patience?” Or the presence of mind to just open the door? Why again did they have to squeeze like this?

“Well, that’s boring as hell. Let’s check the next room.” What a conclusion. Really, Jisung? An empty room is boring? Wow. Jisung pushes the door close and barely misses Changbin’s nose. Latter glares at him, but Jisung smiles innocently and puts his hands on Changbin’s shoulders. “Piggyback?”

“Seriously?” Despite his reluctance, he outstretches his arms and stands up with Jisung secured on his back. “Clingy.”

“Cuddling you is just nice, all right?”

“This isn’t cuddling, this is you being lazy.”

“Hush, we don’t want to spread lies like that, someone might hear.”

“Might hear what?” A deep voice interrupts their bantering; Jisung startles and makes Changbin lose his balance with his hectic movements. They struggle for a moment, Jisung cuts off Changbin’s air supply as he tries to not slide off – Changbin’s knees buckle and with a conjoined yelp they crumble to the floor. He groans as bony elbows dig into his back – why does he always have to feather other people’s falls?

“You didn’t need to choke me, you idiot.“

“And you didn’t need to let me fall.” Jisung whines and helps him stand up.

“What the hell are you two doing?” Right, they aren’t alone. God, he wishes for a day in which he doesn’t embarrass himself in front of others thanks to Jisung. They turn and come face to face with Felix and Minho – both of which appear mildly disgruntled. Lost for words, Changbin glances to Jisung, who smiles and opens his arms as if meeting two old friends. Can the floor swallow him please?

“Minho! And Felix, too! What a beautiful surprise! How are you two on this beautiful Friday? I would so appreciate it, if you guys would keep this to yourselves.” Felix’s eyes snap to Changbin, who can see the blonde’s irritation grow. Why does Jisung have to make it sound as if they did something forbidden?

“So, what _were_ you doing?” Minho repeats, eyeing them with suspicion.

“We were looking for our friend, Chan, the other guy that’s always with us.” Jisung nods eagerly to undermine his statement, but neither Felix nor Minho break out of their scowls. Unable to endure the silent staring contest, Changbin elaborates: “He’s down recently and Jisung wanted to spy on him so we can find out a good way to cheer him up.” Felix lifts an unbelieving eyebrow, but eventually exchanges a look with Minho. A mischievous smile creeps to his lips. God, no, that glint in his eyes can’t mean any good.

“Sounds fun, we’ll help. How many of you checked already?” The blonde comes close to him, pulling Minho along. Jisung explains what they’ve been doing, while Changbin tries to get rid of the sinking feeling in his stomach. He’s positive the two won’t be of any help, no, they’ll surely make this more complicated, but… he can’t deny liking the thought of spending time with Felix.

After a short debate and a devilish smile from Minho that’s unsettling to think about, they sneak off to the next door. A brief scuffle between Jisung and Felix ensues, as they both want to peer inside first, which leaves him and Minho to watch their dumb fight.

“You’re not dating Jisung, are you?” Minho asks, suddenly a lot closer than before – his voice is breathy as usual, but the uneasiness shines through it like the sun through clouds.

“He’s all yours, Dreamy.” Changbin reassures, Minho nods but doesn’t answer for a while. It’s only when Jisung’s elbow lands in Felix’s cheek that he speaks with an odd seriousness:

“Felix is all yours, too.” Changbin coughs, not having expected _that_ \- Minho doesn’t pay his flustered form any mind and keeps speaking. “Dreamy, hm? I like it. I thought about one for you, but I suck at this.”… so, that’s why he was quiet for so long?

“What are you two whispering about?” Felix and Jisung turn, latter pointing a finger between them. “And why are you two so red in the face! Do you see that, Lix? How can you betray me like this, Binnie!” Before anyone can say anything, Jisung pulls him and Minho apart, pushing him not so discreetly into Felix side, motioning for the door and opening it without the needed caution of spying, but to hell with that, right?

The gap is slight and too slim for four people to peer through. Changbin therefore pushes Jisung into a kneeling position and peers over his head – a terrible mistake as he soon realises, because Felix leans over him and suddenly he’s engulfed not only by the blonde’s cologne but also in such a proximity that everything becomes warm –too warm. Vaguely, he registers Minho squeezing next to Jisung, but there’s another problem: The room isn’t empty. In fact, there’re two people inside. A boy and a girl, talking, and a moment later they’re making out and Changbin wants to retreat, but he’s unable to.

It’s like an accident. He doesn’t want to see it, but he can’t look away either. Now, if he could move away, that would be great. Jisung apparently thinks similar, trying to backtrack from their pile of legs and arms – Changbin curses quietly, because the movement makes him lose his balance, which makes Felix lose his balance which ultimately ends up in their stability breaking: They lose their balance and Minho gets buried under Changbin and Felix while Jisung falls forward and into the room. The resulting shriek from the occupants is loud enough that it echos in the hallway.

What follows is the chaos and disaster he predicted all day long: Felix and Changbin both pull Jisung out of the room, which is literally them _dragging_ him over the floor and Minho pulling him up. Felix yells an apology into the general direction of the door and slams it shut right after, but footsteps rushing to it confirm that a sorry won’t do: Jisung is the first to run, dragging Minho with him. With a yelp, Felix tugs Changbin along as well – they bolt down the corridor and pile into a random door at the end - it's unlocked, and therefore as good as any hiding spot. The door slams shut behind them and they keel over, panting.

He's not sure who starts it first, but someone lets out a giggle and then they’re all crumbling to the floor laughing. Changbin kneels, Felix and Jisung draped over him while Minho lies on the floor, holding his stomach as he laughs - it’s an oddly contagious sound and somehow they end up in a vicious circle of trying to stop, hearing Minho laugh, and starting all over again. It’s a solid few minutes before they calm down; only then does Changbin notice movement out of the corner of his eye – oh shit.

Three pairs of eyes stare at them, one specifically catches his attention: exasperated and with a raised eyebrow, Chan quietly judges him. Right, he’s supposed to be the sane one between him and Jisung. Well... He knew beforehand that this would end in a disaster. A sheepish smile is all he can muster. Not even questioning their luck to accidently stumble into this room – of course, it had to happen. The others notice as well, and as if someone said the cursed name, it’s quiet.

“What are you guys doing here?” Chan’s voice is blank – he’s trying to ignore the questioning glances the two other guys throw his way.

“Oh! Channie!” Jisung chirps, ripping Changbin out of his sitting position and almost hitting Felix in the face once more. “We were looking for you! But! We have to talk about something first,” he laughs, fake as his sense of personal space, and drags all three of them out of the room again, leaving Chan to send a warranted, confused glance at Changbin who shrugs: _I’m innocent. Don’t put this on me, dude._

The door slams shut behind them and Jisung takes a deep breath before grinning and dragging Minho to the side like an excited puppy would its owner, leaving him and Felix alone.

“And here I thought I was weird.” Felix breaks the sudden silence, glancing to Minho who’s giggling like a twelve-year-old kid.

“If you’re in a room with Jisung, you’re never the weird one, trust me.” Changbin smiles, but it falters when he notices the frown marring the blonde’s face. “What’s up?”

Felix glancing from Jisung to Minho and then biting his lip is all Changbin needs to suspect he knows the answer, but he waits for Felix to explain himself, anyway. “Must be the fact that you haven’t complimented me yet.”

Changbin snorts, that’s not the reason, but okay. With a practiced glance, he takes in the blonde’s appearance wholly for the first time today: It’s the same old, aside from his hair falling into his forehead. Somehow, it makes his freckles stand out more than usual and he looks… adorable? No, it’s almost… pretty? Damn, this isn’t helping the twist in his chest at all.

“You look… _pretty.”_ It slips out of his mouth before he can think of what he’s saying. Oh, great, Changbin, lose your filter just like everyone else. Excellent idea. He suppresses the urge to say something else, or, worse even, babble and make himself look like the fool he is. It’s out, and it isn’t a lie. He might as well leave it at that. To escape his quickened pulse, he concentrates on Felix’s reaction – the blonde always wanted a genuine compliment, after all.

He doesn’t get disappointed: Felix’s lips part in surprise and both his ears flush; the blonde’s moment of surprise doesn’t last long, though. He ruffles his hair and smiles, even if it’s a tad abashed. “Pretty, huh? I dare say I was born like this, so why don’t you tell me something I don’t know?” Felix sounds like usual, winks even, but he can’t fool Changbin with his red ears. He plays along still and dutifully rolls his eyes.

“You’re also a dumbass, but I dare say you were born like that as well, huh?”

“I dare say you’re playing with fire, Changbinnie. Careful or you’ll get burned.”

“Really think you’re that hot?”

“I mean, you’re looking at me, aren’t you? Can’t you tell?”

“I can tell that your ears are hot.” The blonde huffs and hides them under his hands. His smirk morphs into a smile and yes, as good as that smirk fits his face, this smile is so much better.

“All right. Explain.” A voice cuts through their conversation as Chan emerges from the door and eyes all four of them with equally demanding eyes. “Sung, Bin. What the fuck did you do this time?” Right, shit, he’d totally forgotten about Chan.

Jisung bounces over, attaching himself to Changbin as per usual.“Channie! We wanted to surprise you!” Jisung sounds unbothered by the eldest stern tone, but it doesn’t fool Changbin: He feels the fingers digging into his arm all too well.

“Surprise me? With what? You did the dishes for once? Cleaned the table? Aired the bathroom after your shower? Or, wait, didn’t embarrass me in front of my friends?”

“Channie~,” Jisung whines, “we wanted to invite you to a movie night!” Oh? Changbin shares the surprised flicker in Chan’s face, if only internally.

“Sung, it’s… “Chan looks at his watch, “it’s just after lunch. You could have texted me or waited at home- “

“But you didn’t come home last night!” There it is, the dangerous wobble in Jisung's voice and Chan’s face crumbling. Changbin doesn’t miss the hand sneaking to Jisung’s shoulder – it’s not his.

“Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Chan scratches the back of his neck in his typical, nervous habit. Silence reigns between them for a while, but Chan appears unable to bear it for too long. “You two are Minho and Felix, right? You’ll be joining us? On that movie night?” Felix exhales in surprise. Quiet enough for only Changbin to hear, thanks to the non-existent distance between them. When even did he get that close…?

“Yes!” Jisung grins and slings an arm around Minho, pulling him close. “We thought you might like the extra company, right, Min _?”_

 _“_ Yes.” Minho doesn’t hesitate for a second – they probably planned it just now, god, he doesn’t want to know what else they’re planning. When Chan looks unconvinced, Felix moves next to Changbin and frees him from the torture that is neck-breathing.

“We wanted to decide on a time, since we’re planning to bring along another friend.” Felix sounds excited _and_ convincing, and really, is that surprising? He wears confidence like he wears his freckles – _of course_ he’s good at this.

“Right, we’re all looking forward to it.” Changbin joins in, “let’s quickly make out a time and we’re gone.”

“Okay… This is kinda odd, but whatever. Why don’t we meet at twenty? You planned it for today, right?” Chan gives in, looking between them as if he knew they pulled this out of their asses.

“Yes, we did.” Jisung says it so quickly, it’s hard to miss that they firstly hadn’t, and secondly that he’s too eager for this to happen.

“Good, so twenty sounds good? It’s weekend after all and- “

“Twenty is perfect.”

“All right, well then… Until twenty.” Chan still looks confused, but he must have realised that playing along is easier than questioning it. He leaves with a wave and only when the door closes behind him, do the four of them let out a collective breath.

“Well, well, well. What a pleasant turn of events.” Felix squeezes Changbin’s arm before separating Minho from Jisung. “Can’t deny I’m looking forward to it.” He winks at Changbin and turns to Jisung with a smug smile. “You’ll text Minho the address, right? Later!” He waves and the two disappear as quick as they had appeared. It’s suspicious, but… text?

He glances to Jisung, “So, when were you going to tell me you started texting with Minho?”

Jisung chuckles, “I, well- _Oh!_ Look at that, bad time, bad, awful time. I have to do this _thing._ Until later, Binnie!” He runs off, which is typical. Changbin doesn’t chase him, but walks along the corridor, thinking about the fact that he will spend time with Felix in evening. Like _actual time_. Not accidently, stuck-in-the-elevator-time or the “randomly”-meeting-you-on-campus-time. No actual time… and he’s looking forward to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading<3
> 
> Next up is... an OT8 Chapter! Changbin POV
> 
> know what's fun? i had my second ever ambulance ride two days ago. my head was all funny, tingling everywhere, my vision was getting spotty and i nearly lost consciousness. doctor at hospital was like: ye, all ur levels are good, you can go 
> 
> it's been two days. my head is still tingling and i have a persistent headache, but hey, mY lEvElS aRe OkAy So WhO cArEs


	10. OT8's Chaotic Movie Night Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s a joke on the tip of his tongue, but Felix crushes it with an uncharacteristically sweet smile. “That was cute.”

The kitchen is a mess when they get home. No one did the dishes, and the floor is dotted with rice where _someone_ was incompetent and spilled it. It’s clear why Jisung wanted to tidy up the living room. He should have known better. The water cascades over his fingers, bubbling up the soap as he cleans the plates. He’s uneasy about what’s coming. For one, they have no clue if this will cheer Chan up and as a second… Felix. Just, Felix. As great as spending time outside of accidental encounters sounds, the anticipation twisting his gut is vexing.

With the dishes done and the floor cleared up, he plans to go through the cupboards - just in case _someone_ hid strange things inside again. Everything appears normal until…

“Sungie.” He calls, voice monotone. The younger yells something incomprehensible and stumbles into the kitchen with a cobweb sticking to his hair. “Why is Chan’s Halva in your- “

“Ahahahaha, you’re so silly, Binnie!” Jisung speeds past him, yanking it out of the shelf, “will you look at that! Sly little thing, however did it get there, you suppose?”

Jisung’s not-at-all innocent eyes don’t do the trick, they never do. They look at each other for a good minute, both realizing where this is heading.

“I want half.”

“Greedy.” Jisung hisses under his breath, but reaches for the knife to cut the package in half… like they regularly do when they swipe it from Chan. Thing is, Jisung’s only halfway through the process when the front door opens – Chan is late, but apparently not late enough. Changbin can only stay in the room's midst in bewilderment as Jisung yeets the knife into the sink, producing a deafening noise that the following crumbling of plastic being stuffed into the toaster is silent. Good thing he unplugged it earlier, and rest in pieces Halva.

When Chan comes in, Jisung sits on the counter for less than a second, playing with a spatula as if he had been there all along – that he manages to “unintentionally” hit Changbin with it is a given. Just another bruise to add to the Jisung-inflicted list.

“Weather sucks.” Chan complains, hair wind-swept as he hoists three plastic bags onto the table. As Chan takes off his soaked coat, he’s about to go through the groceries, but stops when Jisung decides that tumbling off the counter headfirst is a marvelous idea. Following a thud, he squawks something disjointed, rubbing a quickly reddening spot on his forehead. Chan and him exchange a glance of incredulity.

“What the hell you doing, Sung?”

“This is how I normally get off counters.” Jisung huffs, indignant expression passing over his face before he reaches out a hand to Changbin in a silent appeal to preserve some of his dignity. It’s too late for that, though he helps him up, anyway. No sooner that he’s on his feet, the youngest starts sifting through the bags like a squirrel on a quest for hazelnuts.

“Went all out, huh?”

“Didn’t know what to buy, so I grabbed everything.”

Yep, that’s Chan for you. It’s not like they have a budget or anything. He can already see it happening, rice for the next two weeks in exchange for Jisung being fed for a night or two, because that’s precisely how long three bags of sweets and snacks will satisfy him.

“So… did you throw away all our stuff or why is it so clean in here?” Chan sends an inquiring glance over the counter, eyes pausing at the toaster. Oh no- There’s a part of plastic peeking out. Changbin cuts off his sight with a doubtlessly highly unsubtle shuffle.

“Just tidied up, nothing more.”

Chan hums in response, it sounds disbelieving, but he doesn’t dig deeper and praise god for that.

“Are you really okay with this movie night?” Jisung asks after a while of silent unpacking, and Changbin doesn’t miss how only three of the five cookie packages reach the cupboard.

Chan shrugs, a wry smile on his face. “I’m still not sure how and why, but I’m looking forward to it. Been a while since I met new people.”

Good, that’s great. Changbin smiles, eyes flickering to Jisung who offers him a thumbs-up. A moment of content silence passes, then Changbin realises why this peace feels fake: Chan’s smug grin greets him when he faces back, and smug Chan is a bad Chan. It means something very uncomfortable is about to take place.

“So… Felix and Minho, huh?” A sly glance to them both, then he carelessly moves a chair under the table. “And here I was expecting you two would wind up together someday.”

Jisung chokes out a laugh, spit flying past Changbin – he prays it didn’t reach his hoodie. He gives Chan a pointed glance, but the eldest takes it in stride and grins, which causes him to question how serious his statement was.

“God, Channie, why would you assume that?” Jisung scoffs, wrapping his arms around Changbin’s in a fluid gesture. “Unbelievable.”

“Yeah, that you would exclude yourself like that.”

“It’s 3RACHA for a reason. Now come here, come to the cuddle pile, boyfriend number two.” Jisung beckons him with a well-acted frown and gains a laugh in turn. The amusement doesn’t last long enough for his liking – Chan sobers up promptly. Old man has no funny bones.

“I’m right, huh? Felix seems pretty forward for someone like you, Bin and Minho… he’s so…”

“Channie~” Jisung whines, swinging his hand around to halt him, “stop you’re being awkward.”

“If you make any of your strange comments today, you’ll regretti spaghetti.” Changbin adds, conscious of the two confused glances he receives. “What? Felix said that and- You know what? Nevermind.”

“All right, all right. I won’t say anything, just teasing.” Chan raises his hands in defeat, sounding entertained, and that’s good – even if it's at their expanse. After a few minutes of idle small talk, a thought strikes him.

“Why don’t you invite your boyfriend?”

“Yes!” Jisung face breaks out in a huge grin, “that would be fun! We’ve been dying to meet him!” They peer at Chan, who’s struggling to form an answer. A sigh and rub of his forehead later, they know why:

“I wish I could. I’ve been inviting him over for weeks, but he moved last week and lives five hours from here now.”

“Oh.” Jisung manages no more and Changbin is yet again inspired by his lack of eloquence. There’s no need to turn around, to know that the youngest has his sad eyes settled on Chan. “That’s why you’ve been down lately?”

All it requires is a slight nod, as Chan lets his head hang and is established: Chan’s boyfriend is an ass. He acts without thinking, pulling Jisung along as he wraps Chan in his arms. “You could have told us.”

A nod into his shoulder is all the answer he gets. It hurts that he’s not confiding in them, but seeing him like this upsets even further. He never thought he would feel like holding something fragile when he hugs Chan. Jisung finds his eyes, silent understanding passing between them – for what, _specifically,_ he’s uncertain. Either beating someone up or making Chan smile – with Jisung it's always a gamble.

The doorbell cuts through their silent moment, Chan jerks out of his arms. “Jesus, I thought you fixed the volume of that damn thing, Sungie.”

“Hey, I said I’d try. I’m no electrician, okay?”

While they continue bickering, he gets the door, expecting three people, but it’s five. What the-

“Your sunshine has arrived, Changbinnie~”

“Can’t you act normal for once?”

“Guys, shut up. We’re not even inside yet.”

The group squeezes through the door and Changbin surrenders space with a stumble backwards. When he subsequently captures Felix’s gaze in pursuit of answers, the blonde shrugs.

A heap of shoes blocks the door as the five stand before them. Chan and Jisung linger behind him, not too gracefully telling him to do the talking. “I know three of you, who’s the rest? I’m Changbin, that’s Jisung, and this is Chan.” He points to everyone and then looks at Felix, prompting him to do the introductions – he won’t suffer through this alone.

Felix grins, introducing the three Changbin already knows before gesturing to the other two: Seungmin, his roommate, and Jeongin, a friend - both wanted to tag along. Latter turns out to be youngest between them, grinning like a fox, face morphing into something adorable. Seungmin is more solicited, scanning them and the room in a focused yet amicable fashion.

“I hope you don’t mind us tagging along.” Seungmin offers, looking to everyone before gesturing to Jeongin, “we brought some stuff to make up for it.”

“We also got the good stuff.” Hyunjin grins, producing a bag from behind his back. Glass hits glass, ringing noisily in the room, revealing everyone what’s inside without seeing. It’s not too bad – until Seungmin catches on and jerks to Hyunjin with a miffed sigh.

“Did you bring alcohol? For real?”

“Of course, I brought fucking alcohol! You’re lame to expect I wouldn’t.”

“Jinnie- Innie is a minor!”

“So?”

“S- So?! Do I really have to- “

Felix moves into his field of view, motioning Jeongin over. “Do you have a microwave? We brought loads of popcorn. Where’s the kitchen?” With an annoyed undertone, he continues. “And don’t bother about them, they actually love each other.” The blonde tugs him and Jeongin towards where Changbin points, and he can’t help but notice Jisung standing with Minho who’s prodding the spot which he fell on earlier.

The door falls shut behind them, sealing off Minho’s gentle scolding and Hyunjin’s irritated voice. Jeongin moves to the microwave, popcorn-bag in hand and contemplates the tool as if it were composed in a foreign language – he has half a mind to help him, but… everyone knows how to use a microwave, right? With a last worried glance, he picks up the pitcher to fill it with water, but a warm presence hovering over his shoulder distracts him.

“Where you got bowls?” Felix all but breathes into his ear, voice low enough to shoot a shiver down his spine. Leave it to that blonde to bother him just five minutes into their encounter. Changbin points to the counter to his left, but Felix doesn’t even follow his directions. “Compliment?”

He should have known. A hand on the blonde’s chest is perhaps not the smartest idea, but his heart requires a bit of space right now. Felix surrenders some space, taking his wrist and holds it – Changbin realises he won’t get out of this easily. The blonde looks genuinely happy to be here, and the thought alone is tantalising.

“You smell good.” Okay, where the hell did that even come from? The blonde looks equally surprised, but lets up from him with a smile too fond for what he’s used from him.

Before the blonde can think of anything else to pester him with, he grabs a handful of glasses and returns to the living room that’s undergoing a rearranging by Minho and Jisung who’re whispering, smiling and laughing – watching it feels like intruding so he stops. Chan idles by, hovering like a sim in a corner. They should totally delete that game from his laptop. Pronto.

“Where’re the other two?” He asks, trying to catch his attention - it takes a decent kick for him to snap out of it. Jesus.

“Oh, I think they left to get more alcohol.”

“… weren’t they arguing about it before?”

“I didn’t get it either, but I’m not saying no if they pay.”

Changbin snorts, shaking his head at Chan’s impish grin, and goes back to the kitchen in which he’s met with the smell of popcorn and… tendrils of black smoke. Felix is nowhere to be found, Jeongin runs to him, horror written all over his face. “I’m so sorry, I’ve no clue how to make popcorn, I lied and- “

“Woah, calm down.” He takes the smoking paper bag from his hands and dumps it in the sink. Jeongin looks close to having a breakdown, and man, he thought Jisung is melodramatic. “Just, calm down, and make another. No harm done.” At least none to the microwave… Jeongin’s mental state might be a different story. He opens the window to air the room and finds Jeongin staring at him when he shifts back. All right, okay. That’s rather cute, but also a tad unnerving. “You’ve really got no clue, do you?”

“No.”

And that’s how Changbin explains a microwave in all its detail on a Friday evening, teaching Jeongin step-by-step how to prepare and place the popcorn. It’s long after the first bag is done, that the younger lets him go. It's also how he practically walks into Felix, who must have been stalking – yes, stalking – them for a while, because he rests on the counter, eyes settled on him long before Changbin is even conscious of his presence.

There’s a joke on the tip of his tongue, but Felix crushes it with an uncharacteristically sweet smile. “That was cute.”

He flushes, but manages a knowing smile in return. Maybe he should get used to this – the soft smiles, the missing smirks – because it happens more and more, and blushing all the time is _not_ his thing. With the blonde close behind him, he heeds for the door… and runs straight into Jisung.

“Oomph- Jesus, Binnie, offensive flirting doesn’t fit you. I was about to get you guys, we’re all done here, let’s start!” Changbin, patting the pulsing spot on his forehead, taking a glance through the room.

“There’s still two missing.”

“Oh, they’re still not back?” Felix stands behind him - too close, too suddenly. Changbin startles, which alarms Jisung, which makes them hit each other once more. Chan snickers, some place off to the side. Ass.

As if on cue, the front door flies open, Hyunjin yells about the weather sucking, the rest passes him by when Jisung startles _again,_ nearly hitting him were it not for Felix pulling him back like the hero he is. What is this evening? It’s not even been a goddamn hour, and this is chaos.

Hyunjin barges into the living room, dripping water everywhere. “You better fucking thank us for risking our life. The weather is absolute fucking shit.” He talks with a peculiar accent he can’t make out, Seungmin rolls his eyes.

Chan doesn’t pay them any mind as he goes for the bag, drawing out bottle after bottle. When it's all lined up, he eyes the selection. “Wow.”

“She’s hot.” Jisung adds quietly, locking eyes with Chan across the room – it doesn’t escape Changbin. He glares back, glad that no one else seems to notice their interaction. Chan clears his throat, a sound used to mask a chuckle.

“You guys bought the entire store? Wanna get us drunk to rob our apartment or something?” He jokes – which makes Hyunjin choking in response highly questionable.

“Even if they want to, they’re too chaotic to achieve that. They’d be drunk before you.” Minho cuts in, clapping Hyunjin’s back too harshly for it to be friendly.

“I would do nothing like that!” Jeongin pipes up out of the blue. Everyone stares at him – Felix snickers, patting his shoulder.

“No one would have suspected you.”

What follows is chaos. Hyunjin all but rips the remote out of Jisung’s hands to pick out a movie with Seungmin’s guidance, Minho insists on mixing them all drinks that exist of ninety percent alcohol and ten percent staring holes into the air, Chan hovers by the couch drink in hand waiting for the player to input another command, Jisung accidently hits Jeongin, who promptly spills his glass over Felix which culminates in Changbin having to lend him one of his shirts, even though Jisung’s would have fit better, but Felix insists and Changbin can be content to leave the room before the blonde rips his clothes off. To claim he’s not ready when the blonde emerges with his shirt is correct. Many wrong thoughts. Many.

Hyunjin gives Felix a mocking glance, “since it’s horror, we should turn the lights off.”

“No.”

“Yes, don’t be a pussy.”

Their discussion continues until Changbin has enough and turns on the small lamps littered throughout the room. It earns him the most genuine smile he’s ever seen on Felix’s face, so Hyunjin hitting him is worth it. Jisung’s knowing smirk is a subject he would like to skip, though. After everything is finally said and done, they linger around the couch in a pulse of silence. It takes exactly five seconds for them all to realise what’s about to take place:

Everyone lunges for the couch at once. Chan is the first to sit, using a squealing Jeongin as a shield. Felix, Minho and Jisung follow, which leaves him, Hyunjin and Seungmin to scowl as the good spots are all gone. Well, only Hyunjin scowls. Seungmin appears delighted to use the pillow in front of the couch, while Changbin can’t help but marvel how everyone even moved that quick when they just stood next to him.

He's conscious of Felix trying to capture his gaze, he’s also conscious of Jisung’s mischievous grin, that’s why he strictly ignores both and aims to take the pillow in front of Jeongin. He never finds his target. Hyunjin curses something Changbin can’t interpret because the angry dude grips his shoulders, steering him right into Felix's lap. To say he’s mildly shocked is an understatement. His shocked gaze coaxes a groan from Hyunjin. “Fuck it, if you don’t sit in his lap, he’s gonna cry about all day tomorrow.” With that he sinks to his pillow, getting comfortable, leaning against Changbin’s legs with a pillow as a headrest.

His legs are warm. Felix is warm. His face is warm too. Jisung snickers, Changbin throws him a pointed glance that does nothing if not feed the fire. Felix moves underneath him, adjusting himself and tugging him back with an arm around his middle that quickly disappears again. All right, okay. It’s not like him to feel nervous… then again, he never is in situations like this, so it’s bound to happen. … who’s he telling that crap? He’s constantly hugging and cuddling Jisung. This is normal, the situation at least. Yes, this is because of Felix. Only Felix. But does that realisation help? No.

Chan is about to start up the movie, remote hovering in the air, but Jeongin slaps it out of his grasp and sends it sailing. With seven pairs of puzzled eyes on him, his smile doesn’t waver, though his voice does. “Let’s have a toast? To our new friendship.” The last part is more question than fact. Changbin would have cooed, but he’s occupied with Felix moving _too much,_ slinging an arm around his waist again as he readily agrees with a rise of his own glass – wherever he took that from.

And the blonde’s approval is supposedly all they require - a minute later they reach their glasses to the middle, Hyunjin while doing some weird backwards acrobatics. There’s an actual, genuine smile on his face. “Let’s be fucking awesome friends!” They drink, all cringing at Minho’s concoction, and a look to the right confirms that both Chan and Jeongin become sentimental with this simple act.

The intro plays with eerie music, a promise of what’s coming. Felix’s arm is around him, warm breath hitting his shoulder through the clothes. Changbin knows he’s too stiff. He could lean back, could enjoy this proximity he admittedly wants. But he doesn’t for now, remaining where he is. How will he survive this night?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE: I've been thinking about a Secret Santa fic exchange - I made a collection for it, if you're interested, please sign up! You'll find it on my profile under collections! Everything u need to know is written there :) (If anyone else is doing/planning this already please tell me lol)
> 
> Thanks for reading, please leave a comment!<3
> 
> Next up is part two, Felix POV!
> 
> As a note: updates sometimes take longer because I'm my own proofreader and as I'm not native I'm obsessed with making it as good as can be for u guys! :)


	11. OT8's Chaotic Movie Night Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Idiot.” Changbin breathes, raising the fabric from his face to eye Felix with a sudden fondness that melts him.

It hasn’t even been half an hour when the jump scares start. Hyunjin doesn’t stop cursing after the initial one, inhaling his drink and choking on it for a good minute – much to Felix’s annoyance, so he _softly_ kicks his back “helping” him and gaining a seething glare in return. Minho stares at Jisung with a much too sweet smile, while latter cowers with his knees pulled up – either ignoring Minho or truly not aware – Felix can’t tell. Seungmin is definitely drinking too much while Chan and Jeongin eat their popcorn so noisily, Felix can’t hear the movie through it.

Not that he minds, it doesn’t matter, not a problem at all.

What _is_ a problem, currently sits in his lap and startles with even the slightest of scares, which is – in his objective opinion – adorable. Changbin tries to cover these small hitches of breath and full-body shakes, but he’s failing gloriously. Everyone else might be fooled. Hell, everybody else is busy with whatever – but not Felix. Nope, his entire attention is all over Changbin and the tiniest of shifts of his body.

Not that it’s Felix’s fault, this hyperawareness of Changbin.

Mostly, it’s Hyunjin’s fault for pushing him into Felix’s lap, and the rest is Changbin’s for staying and just… _being himself_.

Well, and also the circumstance that Changbin vehemently tries to maintain distance between them, which makes the other sit up straight in his lap, not leaning back, not touching and therefore obstructing Felix’s view of the TV. Since he can’t see, his attention has to be somewhere else, and that’s Changbin - logical consequence.

The other’s stubbornness does have some perks though: it offers him an excuse to periodically sling an arm around Changbin’s midst to readjust him in his lap, seeking to sneakily pull him back a little further. The issue with this… _sly_ plan is that Changbin is terribly persistent and remains rigid in his posture, not deluded by Felix’s seeking hands. And despite having him closer than ever, Felix can’t help but feel put down at his resistance. It’s just a plain touch. A bit of cuddling at most – leaning back to make them both more comfortable wouldn’t be anything but normal, and still Changbin’s struggling to twist out of it.

And on top of all this, there’s the time. It doesn’t fucking pass. The movie isn’t great, the story boring even as it thickens with nothing interesting happening for a good half hour – which is possibly why the second something _does_ happen, he finds himself bathed in popcorn – everyone does, for that matter. That Changbin startles a second time when the popcorn hits him is despite the point, but nonetheless oddly endearing.

Felix plucks some popcorn out of his hair, smiling at Jeongin’s apologetic squeaking until he discovers the source of his panic: the bowl in which the popcorn previously was perched on top of Hyunjin’s head. Everyone fights to keep in their laughter – until Minho lets out one of his weird laughs that breaks their resolve in a heartbeat. They miss a solid ten minutes of the movie because of their laughter, and even Hyunjin joins in after getting over his hurt ego.

When they quieten, Felix tries to bring Changbin closer once more, though he predictably fails. With a huff, he slouches back against the couch, about to give up his pursuit – but then he realises he’s still clinging to Changbin’s sweater from the earlier scare. About to withdraw his hand, he holds, idea striking him:

Maybe he should be more offensive, more like he usually is when he wants something.

Slowly, he drags the cloth between his fingers back, causing it to stretch. Changbin notices, offering him a curious glance over his left before turning away again. It takes a minute, Felix stays insistent as he watches Changbin’s internal fight: his posture stiffens at first, shoulders riding up, before ultimately slackening. Felix doesn’t have much hope as he pulls once more, but Changbin lets him, follows the gesture until he’s leaned against the couch and Felix’s chest. A defeated sigh later, his head also rests on Felix’s shoulder and latter’s head buzzes in triumph.

It should be satisfaction enough, but Felix wouldn’t be himself if he wouldn’t push his luck. Partly because it’s more comfortable, but largely because he just wants to, Felix wraps his arms around Changbin’s middle, interlacing his fingers above the other’s stomach as he covers his actions with adjusting their positions. His arms stay, Changbin doesn’t resist, and Felix smiles like a fool. Whatever made Changbin this accepting suddenly, it better stay because Felix is not ready to let go anytime soon.

The last quarter of the movie brings them a few jump scares, and more boring dialogues he can’t bring himself to listen to. His mind is some place else, he’s drifting off despite the couch – and Changbin – shaking whenever a scare goes round. It’s not long before his eyes slip shut – it’s unfair. He’s just so happy and warm with Changbin leaned against him, the other’s rhythmic breathing under his fingers, his clean scent and-

A sudden bang cuts through his thoughts – it’s powerful, shakes the ground, and clearly doesn’t stem from the TV. Changbin surges up, pulling Felix upright.

“Holy shit,” Hyunjin sits straight as a candle, sounding oddly breathless, “what the fuck was that?”

“’dis Zeus’s vengeance.” Seungmin says, giggling at the end. “He’s gonna come and get ya’” Seungmin pokes Hyunjin’s cheek, grinning wider and more earnest than Felix has seen in a while. Hyunjin manages a scoff, batting the hand aside with an annoyed smile.

A silver flash lights up the room for a split second, and Felix relaxes – a thunderstorm. Right, Zeus. Not even drunk, not even when he’s fucking drunk will Seungmin stop being a smartass. With the ensuing thunder, the rain picks up and hits the windows as if it were seeking to break them. Wind accompanies it, roaring loudly just as the next thunder strikes.

Jisung squeaks, pushing his palms over his ears. Felix barely evades his elbow, seeing Changbin reach for the younger, but ceases when Minho does the same and caresses his head. The thunder stays, piercing the once quiet atmosphere periodically, making even this crap of a movie scarier. Though the end is expected, Felix can’t help but subtly hide his face behind Changbin’s shoulder. He’s not fond of jump scares or overly explicit gore. Changbin notices, granting him a sideways glance with his telltale small smile that makes Felix squeeze him and smile right back.

“Well, that sucked ass.” Hyunjin states when the credits roll, “let’s check out a better one.” Before anyone can deny, he seizes the remote and types in a title Felix vaguely recalls. Thunder strikes before Hyunjin can open it, rattling everything and abruptly – it’s dark. The TV flashes off in the succeeding clamor of the thunder reverberating in their ears, and the lights follow not a second afterward.

Felix pushes his face to Changbin’s shoulder, absolutely not caring about the action as he closes his eyes and prays for the lights to come back.

“Shit, that was heavy.”

“Electricity is gone, possibly won’t be back for a while.” Chan says from some place off to the side, Felix hadn’t even heard him get up. The elder’s words serve as some kind of license of action – suddenly everyone leaves, just not Felix – he remains where he is, fighting, and losing, to Changbin who’s disentangling his fingers to slide off his lap and to the space next to him.

A white light later, Felix opens his eyes to Changbin’s phone’s flashlight and lets his retinas be fried. Just the way he likes it.

“Okay?” The question is a whisper Felix barely hears – he nods, Changbin looks satisfied. “Good. Hey, Chan? Where are the candles?”

“Cupboard under the TV. If Sung didn’t misplace them. _Again._ ”

“Yo, man. It’s my instincts, I can’t help it.”

Changbin gets up and supports the rest in search of the candles – it's a chaotic affair. Jisung vehemently denies moving any of them, Chan reprimands him and Changbin half-heartedly tries to defend the younger, but fails, especially when Hyunjin ends up recovering them from Jisung’s room. Which starts a whole new argument.

“ _Man_ , who allowed you to go through my room!”

“The door was open, couldn’t have known that mess was anybody’s room.”

“It’s not a mess! It’s organised chaos.”

Hyunjin sneers, “it’s a mess, and that’s final. Now light these fucking candles before I shove them into your overgrown cheeks.”

Jisung’s following fuming stare should, by all means, not be as amusing as it is, but Felix can’t help but snicker as it makes him appear even more like a squirrel.

“Can you be nice?” Seungmin cuts into their staring contest, pulling on Hyunjin’s arm like a petulant toddler.

Hyunjin huffs, visibly overwhelmed with the clinginess, “uh, sure. Let me just call animal control and- “

“Please?” Seungmin bats his eyes, Hyunjin stiffens and stutters something incoherent while Felix curses himself for not getting that on camera.

Changbin plucks the candles from Hyunjin’s unresisting hands and lights them once they’re distributed around the room. Everything wins in warmth with the soft flickering light, especially Felix’s body when Changbin smiles at him from across the room. A pleasant tingle emerges in his chest. What’s a bit of darkness if he gets this in turn?

“So, I’ve got a weather alert, saying everyone should stay inside and not go out unless in case of emergency. Seems to last all night.” Jeongin reports, looking up from his phone as he concludes. As if on cue, the room lights up and the floor rocks softly as the rain striking the windows increases. Felix finds Hyunjin’s and Seungmin’s eyes, but before they can discuss anything, Chan stops them.

“Right, you guys will stay here. I’m not letting you outside in this weather.”

Hyunjin opens his mouth to argue, but Chan sends him a stern glance that shuts him right up. Point of respect for handling that. The couch dips, Changbin sits next to him. Their knees bump and stay close enough to touch – if on accident or not Felix can’t tell, but he’ll pretend it is.

“You want us to sleep here? Do you even have the space for that? We can’t all squeeze on the couch or in your beds, that’s just- “Jeongin shivers.

“I can take the kitchen chairs.” Minho says. How even would he do that? Sleeping on chairs…?

“No.” Jisung forces the idea down with a smile, “not gonna let you sleep on the chairs. The tub is free, though.”

“How about we all sleep here? We can bring the mattresses, put them together?”

“Oh~” Seungmin coos, “we’ll be cuddled up? Can I cuddle Jinnie? I like cuddling.” Seungmin rubs his face against Hyunjin’s shoulder – Felix relishes in how uncomfortable it makes Hyunjin look. Seungmin should be drunk more often, it’s entertaining. That aside – his eyes fall off the weird pair and to Changbin – putting mattresses together sounds like a lot of effort he doesn’t quite get, but it sounds like he would get a chance to hug Changbin and he’ll take that anytime.

“Sounds great, let’s do it.” Felix knows he sounds too eager, he knows because Hyunjin grimaces and Minho smiles, no doubt having identical thoughts.

“No, fuck, wait a minute!” Hyunjin holds up his hands, blocking Minho from scooting the armchair to the side. “I don’t want to be in a fucking cuddle pile with all of you losers, offense intended.”

“Aw, but why not~” Seungmin pouts, Hyunjin tries to brush off his hands and fails.

“Well,” Chan peers at everyone and then the floor, “we have three beds and a couch. We could separate in pairs of two, that better?”

“No, but we’ll take it. How do we split?”

It’s a question that shouldn’t come with as many consequences, at least in Felix's opinion, but no one gives a shit about his opinion. Jisung is the first to answer, much to Felix’s dismay, because who does he want?

“I’ll go with Binnie!”

Of course.

“Hey, wait! I wanted to- “Felix cuts in, pointing a finger, but Jisung overlooks it altogether.

“If Jisung goes to Changbin, I’ll join them.” Minho says, keeping his eyes on the younger.

“No, you won’t.”

“Felix comes too.”

“What, no- “

“We’ll stack on t- “

“No. No we won’t!”

“Can you guys shut up?”

“But why no cuddles? Why not? Jinnie~”

“Ugh, someone please- “

“Why don’t we play a game to decide?” Jeongin cuts in, wringing his hands as if he were an old lady struggling to pacify a pack of stray kids. “Rock-paper-scissors, flipping a bottle or throwing a coin?”

“Whatever it is, let’s bring it the fuck behind us.” Hyunjin sneers, retrieving his glass from the table before sitting down on the ground, downing it in one go when Seungmin puts his head on his lap and smiles at him like a fool.

They follow Hyunjin’s example and sit in a circle. An empty bottle appears in the middle, along with a coin from some foreign currency Felix can’t identify. Felix nibs on his drink, needing some buzz for all this pressure on his shoulders. Avoid Hyunjin, get Changbin. He recites it like a mantra, and it better fucking work.

“Okay,” Jeongin takes the coin, grinning, “we’ll spin the bottle first to decide pairs and when someone’s unhappy, he’ll toss the coin or play rock-paper-scissors.”

It’s all chance. He’s fucked, isn’t he?

The initial two spins of the bottle land on Chan and Minho. The third one Changbin, and Felix can’t say he’s ever observed a bottle spin as fiercely as he does in the following moment. It lands on Seungmin. The next pair is Jisung and Jeongin, which leaves… Felix with Hyunjin. Wow, just wow.

“Coin or rock-paper-scissors?” Felix locks eyes with Seungmin, not losing any time and prays Seungmin will take the coin because rock-paper-scissors with Seungmin? Yeah, no. Even intoxicated, that’s something he can only lose – too much brains. Of course, Seungmin doesn’t choose the coin. Because why choose chance when he can try to meddle and manipulate Felix with his brain games? Can’t he just be lucky once and get what he wants? Is that too much to ask?

Apparently it is. He loses their match in ten seconds. Not that he expected anything else.

“You’re unfair, Minnie. You’re cheating with intelligence.”

Seungmin grants him a grin that’s a tad too proud for Felix’s suffering ego. He glances to Changbin, who has some weird apologetic smile on his lips – it almost makes Felix believe that-

“Not so fast. You, Hanbin!” Hyunjin comes forward, fighting off Seungmin’s grabby hands as he forces Felix to the side and into Jeongin who squeaks, incapable to take the extra weight. Felix is _this_ close to kick the living shit out of Hyunjin hadn’t he not just challenged Changbin to a coin toss. Right. They’re a team, neither of them want this arrangement. Golden, he better fucking win this. Changbin chooses heads and…

“Oh my god, I love you, Jinnie.” Felix can’t believe he would ever say these words, “and I won’t ever repeat myself so you better never forget this.”

“Ugh, I didn’t do this for you.” Hyunjin sounds less toxic than normally and even if he weren’t, Felix would let it slide in this very moment.

“Changbinnie~” Felix joins his side, helpless to hide his grin, “so I guess we’re roommates for the night. Lucky you, not gonna lie.”

Changbin scoffs, smiling, “yeah, lucky me.”

After his – or Hyunjin’s victory and a handful of tossed coins from Jisung later, the pairs are precisely as Felix had assumed they would be from the very beginning: Hyunjin and Seungmin, Jisung and Minho, Chan and Jeongin and him and Changbin. It just makes most sense. It was dumb from anyone to believe they wouldn’t end up like this.

In collective, silent agreement, they tidy up afterwards. The spilled popcorn strewn all over the place is the first thing they deal with, it’s also the only thing that really requires cleaning – the food is all gone and a surprising amount of the bottles are empty. Judging by how clingy Seungmin is, and the way Jeongin sits on the floor, eating every second piece he finds – yeah, he’s not surprised. While Felix puts glasses in the dish washer, he mulls over what they could do, but there’s not much coming to his mind. In all honesty, and however lame it might sound, he’s tired as fuck and would love to go to bed. And that has utterly nothing to do with his sleeping arrangement for the night.

Lucky for him, the others think similarly. They take turns with the bathroom, and all too soon Felix hovers in the living room with Jisung, who’s waiting for the wax of a candle to cool enough to bring it to his room. Which is a good thought – Felix promptly extinguishes another and returns to his wait for Changbin. He’s not nervous.

“Man, you look like you’re going to hyperventilate.” Jisung teases, rolling up one of his sleeves with a highly annoying grin, “not like what I’ve heard of you.”

“Just trying to understand what you guys live through when you look at me.”

Jisung scoffs, then chuckles, picks up the candle and leaves him without another word. Belatedly, Felix realises that he looked right through his words. Not that it matters – Changbin appears from his room, waves him over, and Felix takes his chance to disappear before Hyunjin can reappear and pick another fight.

Changbin’s room is tidy. Almost too much so – a wardrobe, cupboards and a desk are all nicely organized, a few photos arranged on top of them, displaying Chan, Jisung and Changbin in various places. There’re no family photos, which is an unexpected reminder that he doesn’t have any either.

“Wall side?” Changbin asks, Felix takes a moment to return to the present and follows Changbin’s finger to the bed. Right. _Right._ This is happening. What a way to go from spontaneous meetings to a spontaneous sleep-over.

“Yeah.” Felix nods, giving the bed a once over. It’s spacious, comfortably fitting two people. The bedsheets are light blue, and merely a second pillow with an orange casing betrays that this situation doesn’t happen regularly. Just like the bedsheet. There’s only one bedsheet. 

“You gonna get in or you need an invitation?”

Felix hums, smirking, “the way you look is invitation enough, thanks.”

Changbin’s scoff is all he hears before he’s shoved face-first into the sheets.

Felix yelps, spitting out a mouthful of fabric, “you didn’t.”

“Obviously I did.”

Changbin grins, eyes laughing and Felix can’t help the child in himself when Changbin crawls on the bed and tries to take the blanket – quickly, he pulls it away from the elder and rolls himself in it like a burrito. “That’s what you get, no blanket for meanies.”

Changbin chuckles, his hands are warm even through the blanket as he struggles to extract Felix. They wrestle, the bed groans under them and Changbin breaks out laughing the second Felix tries to bite his hand to defend himself, “give me you idiot,” Changbin tugs with more vigor, rolling Felix around and making him yelp. The air is cool as Changbin frees him and holds up the blanket. Felix doesn’t think – not this late, not when he’s _this_ happy and excited – and straight up flings himself into the swaying sheet, not seeing Changbin behind it, recognizing in a corner of his mind the consequence of his action:

Changbin loses his balance with a startled yelp, they tumble to the floor with a thump that probably caught the attention of everybody but Felix can’t bring himself to care, the grin on his lips so big it hurts. They’re in a heap on the ground, blanket between them. Felix holds himself up with one hand on the floor, and the other pressed to Changbin’s chest, which rumbles with laughter that’s so addicting, he joins in.

“Idiot.” Changbin breathes, raising the fabric from his face to eye Felix with a sudden fondness that melts him. Literally – he just flops down, one arm flung over Changbin’s chest, legs in an unpleasant angle and face mashed to the floor. He’s living his best life.

Felix can feel Changbin’s uncertainty – first, the elder pats Felix’s arm a few times, ultimately the hand lingers, not moving, not letting go. Felix closes his eyes, smiling, and if anyone asks, it’s the alcohol.

“You’re such an idiot.” The words are full of the fondness he just saw, no trace of anything but pleasant feelings that fuel Felix’s smile. “Let’s go to bed, c’mon.” Changbin pets his arm, moving to get up, and reluctantly, Felix lets him.

It doesn’t take long to settle – physically, that is. They have to squeeze together, dividing the blanket that hardly fits both of them. Their shoulders and arms touch, pleasantly warm in the otherwise cold room. It’s dim, the rain strikes the windows and thunder continues to rumble in the near distance, rocking the ground and flooding the room in random flashes of silver light. It’s cozy. It’s nice, really fucking nice.

For a long time, it’s quiet. Thanks to Changbin’s shallow breathing, Felix guesses he’s asleep, but he’s proven wrong when he speaks up out of nowhere:

“You know,” Changbin whispers, words entwining pleasantly with the rain, “you can be a pain, but I’m glad I met you. There’s just one thing I’m wondering.”

“Hm?” Felix looks to him, shifting just so he can feel the other’s body against his, “what?”

“Who started the fire?”

He can’t help his scoff, not foreseeing this question at all. Gosh, it’s been so long since then already, since he met Changbin for the first time – and now look at him. He’s lost. “Wasn’t me for sure.”

“Wasn’t, hm?” Changbin’s voice carries amusement, “I see you.”

“No you don’t, you’re not even looking my way.”

“True, but I hardly need to, do I?” Changbin’s remark makes scant sense, until Felix feels him take his hand, all too casually tangling their fingers beneath the blanket, somewhere in the area between their bodies. Felix’s pulse isn’t healthy, and not useful for wanting to sleep either – yet he wouldn’t have it any other way. He squeezes Changbin’s fingers, and neither of them speaks again.

Changbin falls asleep first. His breathing is even and hushed. Felix has to strain to hear it over the thunderstorm – but once he locates it, his brain doesn’t forget and adds it to the soothing atmosphere surrounding him. Subsequently, he takes a moment to watch the sleep-relaxed face of the other, making out the serenity of his dimly lit features and notes them down in a distant corner of his mind.

This – knowing how Changbin looks when he sleeps, how it sounds, how warm his body is, the way he smells and the feeling of their hands intertwined – it’s not what he predicted to gain tonight, but he’ll take it over all else he could have gotten. It’s intimate, something personal, something only few know of him – and Felix is part of these few and it supplies his heart and mind with a joyful buzz that eventually sways him into a deep, content sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys. Fucking hell. How much can even happen in a month lol. Sorry this took so long, Idk why but this chapter was troublesome. I rewrote more than half, corrected, corrected, corrected and so on. I'm good with it now, I hope it's good for you too! 
> 
> next chapters will be a bit smaller again! Just so i can get the update out quicker :)
> 
> Also! Thanks MironaSherl for your comment again! Without it this update wouldn't be here yet! :>


End file.
